---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Somu Kumar <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011 21:07:20 -0500
Subject: [FreeBinayakSen] I Plead Guilty of Sedition
All,
Please see the below petition drafted by Arvind Kejriwal. Endorse if you
agree.
I just want to add that this petition will be submitted to all the below
mentioned people and possibly be submitted as affidavit in court. Even
though very small but there is chance that some kind of action could be
initiated by Govt against signatories but then the whole purpose of the
petition is to make provoke Govt to do so and challenge this sedition act.
Thanks to our Balaji and Subhrajit Bhattacharya of AID Philly for hosting
this petition.
Somu
Circulate widely!
----------------------------------------------------
To:
Dr. Manmohan Singh
The Hon'ble Prime Minister of India
South Block, Raisina Hill
New Delhi
India - 110 101
Telephone: 91-11-23012312
Fax: 91-11-23019545 / 91-11-23016857
Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil
The Hon'ble President of India
Rashtrapati Bhavan
New Delhi
India - 110 004
Telephone : 91-11-23015321
Fax : 91-11-23017290 / 91-11-23017824
Dr. Raman Singh
The Hon'ble Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh
Room No. 303
Mantralaya
D.K.S. Bhavan
Raipur,
India - 492 001
Fax: +91 771 2221206
The judgement in Binayak Sen case has raised several issues which are
extremely critical for Indian democracy and important for every
Indian.
I am not writing this to defend Binayak Sen. I am sure that he will
finally be exonerated as the case rests on weak conjectures rather
than on legally admissible evidence.
I am writing this because I am deeply concerned that the laws under
which he has been convicted can be used against any one of us; and at
anytime, pretty much anyone could be convicted and sent behind bars,
if we become too inconvenient for our politicians, bureaucrats and
industrialists.
After this judgement, I actually read all the sections under which
Binayak Sen has been convicted. He has been convicted of "sedition".
Section 124A of IPC defines "sedition" as
124A. Sedition - Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by
signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts
to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite
disaffection towards, the government established by law in India,
shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be
added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which
fine may be added, or with fine.
Explanation 1 - The expression "disaffection" includes disloyalty and
all feelings of enmity.
Explanation 2 - Comments expressing disapprobation of the measures of
the government with a view to obtain their alterations by lawful
means, without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or
disaffection, do not constitute an offence under this section.
Explanation 3 - Comments expressing disapprobation of the
administrative or other action of the government without exciting or
attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not
constitute an offence under this section.
Therefore, sedition is defined as an act which causes contempt or
hatred or disaffection against the "government" - not against the
"country" or the "constitution".
Most of us working against corruption and injustice in and by various
governments could be easily prosecuted and successfully convicted
under the above section because we often criticize various governments
in the strongest imaginable terms. It's a fine line and completely
open to interpretation as to what constitutes mere criticism and what
amounts to "hatred". Going strictly by the language of this section of
the law, one can easily argue that all our opposition parties no
matter which party might be in power very often do everything possible
to spread "disaffection" against the government in power. Therefore,
all opposition leaders at some point or the other have been guilty of
"sedition".
While this section of the law can be fairly easily misused to suppress
genuine dissent and democratic freedoms, it does not treat grave
offences, which have the potential of destabilizing Indian economy, as
"sedition". For example, take the case of the recent 2G scam which is
believed to have caused a mind-boggling loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crores to
our country. This is almost 25% of annual Gross Tax Receipts of
Government of India. Therefore, the individuals concerned almost
threatened the economic sovereignty of India. Interestingly, this is
not sedition. This is "corruption", which invites the same punishment
as would be awarded to a Railway Ticket Inspector who takes Rs 1000
bribe to give a railway ticket. How ridiculous is that?
IPC was written in 1860 by the British! If you think back to the
British times these laws made perfect sense as it suited their basic
objectives. The intended purpose of these laws was to ensure that the
British rulers could economically plunder India while ensuring that no
native of India stood in the way of achieving these goals. Anyone who
resisted these efforts was automatically a traitor in the eyes of the
British rulers and their activities were declared as "sedition".
Section 120B of IPC is another section under which Binayak Sen has
been convicted. This Section 120B refers of criminal conspiracy. If
anyone conspires in a crime, he is liable for the same punishment as
is the person committing the original crime.
The Nira Radia tapes show how many of the journalists, several
businessmen and a number of politicians were collectively involved in
lobbying to plant their favoured person as the minister who will serve
their vested interest, thus making a mockery of our democratic set up
and threatening India's political and economic stability. The tapes
indicate that our cabinet positions are effectively available for
sale! Isn't this a fundamental threat to our constitution?
All these individuals are certainly guilty of criminal conspiracy
under section 120B read with the Prevention of Corruption Act and
should be tried as such, even under the present laws.
In the case of the 2G scam, wasn't the Prime Minister of India fully
aware of the corrupt practices of the Telecom Minister in his cabinet?
If so, wasn't it his constitutional duty to intervene? Did he turn a
blind eye? Did he try to protect the Minister's misdeeds? Why did he
stall on the request of Dr Subramaniam Swamy for more than eleven
months seeking permission to prosecute the Telecom Minister? Why
didn't the CBI, which operates directly under the Prime Minister,
investigate the case for almost a year after registering the FIR
despite strong displeasure expressed by the Supreme Court on several
occasions? Why did the CBI start moving only when the Court decided to
monitor the CBI's investigations? Shouldn't such abetment and
protection by the Prime Minister amount to sedition? Unfortunately,
the British laws under which independent India functions do not treat
such serious charges as sedition.
At a minimum, the PM is guilty of criminal conspiracy under section
120B read with the Prevention of Corruption Act and criminal breach of
trust and should be tried as such even under the present laws.
The reality is that the role of none of the above players would even
be honestly investigated because the CBI, which is the agency
responsible for investigating and prosecuting them, works directly
under the command of the accused. Even if they were tried and
convicted, they would be guilty of "corruption", which carries a
punishment of six months to a maximum of seven years.
The media has been replete with stories of how Chief Ministers in
power - Dr. Raman Singh, Yedurappa, and Naveen Patnaik, to name a few
- are responsible for the sale of minerals of this country at
throwaway prices. They are apparently giving licenses for mining, not
because these minerals are needed for India, but for exporting most of
these minerals. On one hand, many countries have put restrictions on
export of their minerals to preserve them for their own future needs,
our politicians are facilitating exports of our minerals at throwaway
prices. For instance, the state gets a royalty and cess of Rs 64 per
ton of bauxite mined, cost of mining is roughly Rs 160 per ton and the
mining company sells it in international market at more than Rs 1000
per ton. Likewise, cost of mining iron ore is Rs 300, the state has
been getting a royalty of Rs 27 per ton of ore and the companies sell
it in international market at more than Rs 5000 per ton. The economics
of mining of almost all minerals is as absurd to say the least. Not
just that, mining companies, with full knowledge of the government
agencies, mine much more illegally than they are permitted. Illegal
mining is so rampant that it is feared that some of our mines would be
completely depleted within the next few years. Royalty rates are fixed
by the central government. Licenses and permissions are given together
by both the central and the state governments. Sadly, even inter-party
antagonism does not stand in the way when it comes to corruption at
the expense our natural resources. Complete bonhomie is evident
between the BJP in the states and the Congress at the centre in these
corrupt dealings.
Aren't all these honourable Chief Ministers, who are acting in
collusion with the various ministries of the Central Government,
guilty of sedition/ criminal conspiracy? They are doing precisely what
their British predecessors did. Loot this country and take the wealth
out of the country. Since we work under the same British laws, their
loot is not a serious crime but anyone who dares to "hate" their
activities or resist them and incite "contempt" or "disaffection"
against such open loot of the country is "sedition". How can one call
himself an Indian and not "hate" such practices?
We fought against British not because of the colour of their skin but
also because of the exploitative character of their government.
Unfortunately, the character of the present governments has become far
more exploitative.
The judgement in the Binayak Sen case clearly raises a larger issue
about our legal system and its interpretations - what exactly is
tantamount to a serious crime under the Indian law? Under our present
legal system, economic plundering of our precious national resources
and invaluable revenue streams is a petty offence called "corruption".
But anyone who resists that or "hates" such practices is guilty of
"sedition". Surely, while this makes no sense whatsoever.
The 2G scam, the Nira Radia tapes, and the mining scandal are just
three examples from very recent times that highlight the fallacies
surrounding our legal systems and the desperate need for complete
reform.
These laws are no longer suited to modern-day India. It protects those
in power and gives them the freedom to use these laws against innocent
people when it suits their convenience or to stifle dissent when so
desired. In fact, it helps those in power to continue the economic
plunder of the country, as was done by the British, under the guise of
"democracy". They need such complete overhauls that it would not be an
exaggeration if I say that we need to overthrow them and replace them
with systems which are far more democratic and in tune with the
aspirations of the people of an independent India.
While the Binayak Sen's case has hit the headlines, there are many
lesser known people, some of whom are tribals, who have been
unfortunately languishing in jails due to these laws. It is learnt
that many of them are in jails for several years without any trial.
Some of them have not been produced in courts even once.
We demand complete overhaul of this legal system. Plunder of economic
and natural resources of India should be declared as "sedition".
Having disaffection against such loot and human rights abuses should
be termed as patriotism rather than sedition. And all the players
mentioned above who have either looted the country or have abetted the
same should be tried for sedition, criminal conspiracy and criminal
breach of trust.
I wish to declare that I have strong "disaffection" for the government
of India, the government of Chhattisgarh and all other governments
which indulge in corruption, human rights abuses and inflict
injustices upon its people. I have "contempt" for many of their
policies. I "hate" many of the systems prevalent in these governments.
I call upon the people of India to likewise have "disaffection"
against these governments. I will do everything at my command and with
all the energy, strength and resources at my disposal to resist such
unjust and deprecatory systems. I "hate" this system and am doing
everything to spread "hatred" against this system amongst public.
But I love my country - India. I love the natives of my country - my
fellow Indians. In my own humble ways, I have been working towards
fighting injustices and for the welfare of my countrymen. But I will
continue to have strong "disaffection" against successive Indian
Governments as long as they persist with their unjust and corrupt
practices.
Under section 124A of IPC, I am guilty of "sedition" and I plead
guilty of the same. Jai Hind!
http://sarajahan.org/?p=15
--
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"Every poor man in hungry despair resisting the British Empire was once
called a Congressman. When the Congressman came to power after freedom,
every hungry militant was called a Communist. When the Communists came to
power in some States and still kept many people starving, these poor men
were called naxalites. " ~ V.R. Krishna Iyer
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*"Nobody is giving up violence. Neither the state nor the Maoists are
giving
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