Not sedition if someone disagrees with govt: Indian Supreme Court
Expressing a view which is dissent from a decision taken by the federal government cannot be said to be seditious, India's Supreme Court has observed.
"The expression of a view which is dissent from a decision taken by the central government itself cannot be said to be seditious. There is nothing in the statement which we find so offensive as to give a cause of action for a Court to initiate proceedings," a top court bench said on Wednesday.
The remarks by the bench came while dismissing a PIL seeking action against National Conference President Farooq Abdullah over his comments on abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution which had given special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta rejected the PIL and also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the petitioners for making such claims, reports our New Delhi correspondent.
"Not only that, the petitioners have nothing to do with the subject matter and this is clearly a case of publicity interest litigation for the petitioners only to get their names in press. We must discourage such endeavours," the bench said.
The top court was hearing a plea which referred to Abdullah's statement on restoring Article 370 and contended it clearly amounts to a seditious act and therefore he is liable to be punished under section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code.
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