The Death of an Imposter

So God is dead? Isn't he? Finally? And the world is left an 'orphan'!

Strange are the ways of the world, when even God proves untrue to his promise and dies 10 years before his tenure was supposed to end..... Finally, we discover that even God is a weak astrologer or is it Karma? What exactly went wrong? Wasn't God, supposed to die at the age of 96?.... Oh! he must have forgotten .... so much on his head nowadays!

So Sri Sathya Sai Baba has died, proving his own prediction about his own death, wrong..... Does anyone have a case or should I rest mine....

Ajab Teri Duniya, Ajab Tere Khel
Chhachhoondur Ke Sar Par Chameli Ka Tel!

Jinhein Naaz Hai Hind Par Woh Kahaan Hai?

This is the True Story of someone ..... a fiesty, ambitious, 25 year old somone who could not suffer sloth and insincerity in work..... This is the story of a nurse who served patients to health but today lies confined to a bed in that same hospital, unable to move, unable to talk, unable to think ...... This is the story of a woman who was raped to her death and still survived to tell her tale, though none can hear it, none can understand it, none can appreciate it..... This is the story of Aruna Shanbaug, a poor lower-middle class nurse who lies comatose on a bed while time flows by, for the past 37 years while her rapist, Sohanlal was freed after spending 7 years in jails! 7 years of Jail for a crime that has cost a woman 37 years and counting!

Happy Woman's Day...... to all of you .... and I am sorry for the delay ... it seems I was unable to write in shame after reading about her yesterday.... To be frank I did not want to spoil your mood that was replete with colours of progress and what women have achieved, with grim stories of what the women have not achieved

Two days back, the case filed by Pinky Virani requesting Aruna to be administered Euthanasia was rejected by the learned Judiciary, though the Learned Judges did agree that Passive Euthanasia could be administered ..... A medical court will decide on the same... My Question is not about the merits and demerits of Euthanasia as a system, that shall be discussed some other time .... My question today is, how long will Rape continue to be the symbol of one's revenge? How long will Rape be the weapon of choice for humiliating and degrading women? How long will Society suffer silently this treatment of Womanhood and remain unaffected by it?

On the 27th of November, 1973, a young girl of 23 who was changing has dress was attacked by Sohanlal, a ward-boy, because he was tired of her berating him and warning him of dire consequences if he continued to be slack at work! Male Ego and Suppressed Sexual Anger could not take it any more and he attacked her in the dark of the night, with a dog chain ...... Since she was menstruating, he sodomized her and left her for dead.... She was not discovered till the next morning when the doctors found her lying on the floor, stripped of her clothes and dignity, cortically blind - the dog chain had asphyxiated her and she had lost all her sense and memory.

The Dean of the Hospital had Sohanlal arrested but he was arrested for 'robbery and attempted murder' .... the fact that she had been raped was not reported by the doctors for fear of stigma and that too anally.... had this been reported, Sohanlal would have received an immediate 10 years for unnatural sex (this law was in place till late 2008 and even consensual anal and oral sex could get you 10 years in prison, if reported) and 7 years for Rape..... But the curse of the 'moral stigma' stopped them in their tracks and this was never reported..... How much more longer are we going to remain silent and allow these acts of depravation to continue?

Sohanlal was found guilty and was sentenced to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment on two counts, with both continuing concurrently. Today Sohanlal is a free man, and it's learned that he is working as a ward-boy, under a new identity, in some other state...which brings us back to Aruna..... 37 years have passed by and she is still alive, surviving on the efforts of the nurses of the KEM Hospital where she worked once and was raped that night!

Clearly Justice has been denied to her.... Clearly, our country has failed her... If the murderers of Jessica Lal could be given life imprisonment for killing her, Aruna has been dying a death every second, every minute, every hour for the last 37 years ..... Why has Justice not been her saviour? Is it because she is not as connected as Sabrina Lall was or is it because we simply don't care......

Democratic India has to reply to this poor soul that could have done much more .... Who is responsible for her plight? And who will stand for her Right? It's easy to denounce the Taliban and the others .... and rightly too, for they are the shame of Humanity but how could we allow something of this sort to happen in our country and still remain silent about it?

The time is ticking..... Justice is Waiting... And Oh, Yes! Before I forget, once again 'Happy Woman's Day'

A beautiful song by Sahir.....

Madad Chaahti Hai Ye Hawwa Ki Beti
Yashodha Ki Hum-Jins, Radha Ki Beti
Mohammed Ki Ummah, Zulaikha Ki Beti
Jinhein Naaz Hai Hind Par Woh Kahaan Hai.....?

(Help is the request of Eve's Daugher

Yashoda's Gender, Radha's Daughter

Mohammed's Mother, Zulaikha's Daughter

Where are they who pride on India?)

 The Capital of India, Delhi is also known as the Rape Capital of India, it's said every 15 minutes a woman is raped in Delhi.... How long are we going to allow it to continue?

It's time to stand up for our women, it's time to make Rape a Capital Offence, it's time to stand against it... But is India listening?

A Letter to Those who Ru(i)n my Country on occasion of the National Budget

I wish we could also have a Budget Session wherein the Hon Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Ministers of the various States alongwith the Leaders of the Opposition, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the Speakers of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, the Election Commissioner, All the Different Secretaries of the different Secretariats viz. Cabinet Secy, Home Secy, Finance Secy etc, all the Cabinet Ministers and the Representatives of the Parliament and the Rajya Sabha could gather alongwith all the top industrialists of the country, the media barons, the trustees of all the various Mandirs and Masjids, the heads of all denominations of all religions, all the so-called Civil Liberty Movement people, social workers and inform the Common People in simple terms, the following:

1. The no. of Scams we will have this year
2. The Amounts of hundreds or thousands of billion dollars that will be stolen from you
3. The No. of National Interest Instruments which will be sold for our own needs
4. And most importantly, how much tax we will pay to fund all of the above

I would really appreciate for a change, this honesty... I am a Common Man, I cannot stop you from doing what you will .... so why keep the farce, tell me and do it... please

As a wise man said, if you cannot stop Rape, at least enjoy it!

The Silly Case of Laal Chowk Flag Raising Ceremony

Kashmir is without any doubt an integral part of India and as I have always stated, one of my stated aims and objectives is the re-unification of the entire Indian Subcontinent from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka and from Baluchistan to Burma into one thread..... there is no question of my accepting hence any attempts at secession....

However, the recent Yatra undertaken by the BJP youth wing has completely flummoxed me by its time and tenor.... the wounds of the last intifida have not even died out, but the BJP has decided to engulf the country into one more conflagration.... there are already a thousands of issues that the current government is incapable of handling, on top of it, the main opposition, having abrogated it's position as the watchdog of democracy has decided to take part, and that too, gleefully in the rape of the country's prestige and authority...

I do not seem to really understand what is the problem with the BJP..... is it really as stupid as it tries to show itself? Does it not understand that it's chauvinistic attitude is impacting the nation more than the status quo attitude of the Congress and it's allies? Is it so foolish that it really thinks patriotism is a vocal chord match and all of us are back in ancient Sparta where issues were decided by the virtue of who would shout the loudest, by virtue of who could out-shout the competition?

Does it really think of the irreparable damage it is doing to the nation's fibre by it's insistence on a march that has no sense, no logic, no future thought, except to embarrass the ruling party? Does it even comprehend that by using vocal denunciation of the Congress at every available opportunity, it's actually playing into the hands of the Congress by proving itself as a distant number two? Why can't it pay more attention to the logics of the situation? Why does it have to always use the principle of the Shout as against the principle of the Debate?

Anybody who has lived in India of the 1990's knows of the irreparable damage Murli Manohar Joshi did by his Flag Yatra at Lal Chowk in 1992..... The premise was the same, that we need to prove ourselves by putting up the flag but in the process, MM Joshi managed to do the impossible... he actually got all the extremists to unite and put up a united front, lead to an increased spurt in violence and secessionist activities in the valley which took a decade to abate.... What did we gain from this show of patriotism? Nothing, except deaths of our valiant soldiers who fought and died for the sake of the unity and integrity of our India..... It could have been avoided. But then BJP is not exactly known for subtle diplomacy and statecraft.... and that too from the party, which when in power took Navin Jindal to court for his right to raise the Indian flag...

The BSF itself has clearly stated that there is no need to raise the flag at the Laal Chowk... it's also true that it has been raising the flag in the chowk every year and had stopped it since it has no more political significance.... Secondly, the Chief Minister of Kashmir would definitely be raising the flag in the senate as would all the Govt offices, army services etc... where then is the need for one more?

The BJP has put out an interesting statement that if the flag of Pakistan can be raised in Kashmir, why not the flag of India? I have two counter-questions to this:

Question No. 1: If this is true, what were they doing about it for the 6 years they ruled India? At that time, the NC of Omar Abdullah, which is in power in the state of J&K today, was a part of the NDA, the BJP-led coilition

Question No. 2: Can the BJP, which is used to a language of obfuscation provide documentary proof of when the local administration of J&K, including the office of the Chief Minister was guilty of raising the Pakistani Flag on the Republic Day?

Talking about secessionists raising the flag is stupid because they are secessionists and indeed if they raised the Indian flag, they would cease to be secessionists, of course they should not be tolerated but that does not mean that the state is guilty of the same ... what is important is to ask, if the local government did the same? And if it did, why did the Govt of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of the greatest leaders of recent time did not speak of it? Why did the Iron Man, L K Advani who speaks so much on the issue today, remain silent then? Or is it just a case of out-of-power syndrome?

The BJP, using it's policies of division and victim play has already created a rift between Jammu and Kashmir, when will it learn to start behaving like a responsible opposition? Does it really think, this is good for the state and the country in the long run?

An interesting anecdote of the time is that the great leader that MM Joshi is, he was not even aware of the colours of the Indian flag and managed to do the impossible task that even does not happen in Kindergarten - he hosted the flag upside down!

BJP..... we need you to become a responsible opposition - the time is running out.... is the will too?

A Call to Muslims

Salman Taseer was assasinated in Pakistan on January 4, 2011. His crime was that he spoke against the Blasphemy Law as contained in the Pakistani Constitution. His assassin, Malik Mumtaz Qadri assassinated him because he firmly believed that Salman was denigrating the state and humiliating the creed of Islam by such a contrarian stand on an issue that he considered as a matter of faith.

Today as I listen to both the parties on the issue, the charges and counter-charges, the points of discussion and rebuttals, I feel much more disillusioned on this entire issue then I ever was... Have we as humans, divorced ourselves so much from Reason that we even need to see the obvious - that Blasphemy Law is wrong, that the use of the gun to silence an opposition is wrong, that Human Intellect has a right to speak? Hence, Today as I speak on this issue, I shall speak not as an atheist which I am but as a Muslim for that is what I was  .... the reason being simple, Islam needs to free itself primarily from it's own custodians..... and if a Muslim won't speak, albeit an atheist, who will?

Jammat-E-Islami has tried to pretend that there is no issue, that this is an internal matter within the ranks of Islam, an issue for which the punishment has been decided long ago and hence there is no need for discussion, no need for introspection, no need to talk... for them, it's a closed issue!

But is it a closed issue? Is it really a crime to speak of such things as the law of blasphemy? Is it being-anti Islamic if one tries to reason out the tenets of the religion, or to ask questions, however uncomfortable, they may be? Was not ijtehad supposed to be the cornerstone of the Islamic fiqh as opposed to taqlid?

In a civilization and system that prides itself on it's inclusive nature, that first spoke of the Brotherhood of Men, when did the right to speak on behalf of one's brethren become a rallying-cry for the demise of Islam? Are these custodians of Islam doing Islam a duty by being contrarian to the very principles of Islam or are they plotting it's downfall by destroying the very essence of it's existence? Time will tell....

For the time being, the power of the Gun and the Fear inherent from it's barrels has cowed down the majority to silence.... For the time being, the tongues that should speak are tied down by their duties to their near and dear ones.... For the time being, the droning of the machine gun of the extremist has silenced the common man to a state of imprisonment, but the question is how long will it be able to contain the anger within his breast that shall not be silenced even by the explosion of a million atom bombs and it's these voices of silence, which when spoken will shake the edifice of Islam as it stands today ...... Islam has a lot to fear from it's custodians within it's boundaries than from it's enemies that are battling the religion from outside.

Since the time of the Prophet, the doctrine of ijtehad (analytical reasoning) was upheld and promulgated and taqlid (imitation), though accepted in matters of one's personal relations with God, was not given the same emphasis as Ijtehad, till finally the Sunni fiqh went ahead and closed the door to ijtehad in the 10th century. It's no major coincidence that the closing of doors on Ijtehad lead to hardening of stances within the community leading to major repercussions, as the Islamic world lost it's preeminence in worldly matters post the 15th century and turned insular and insecure.

If Islam needs to re-invent itself, it's time for Islam to go back to the early days of it's existence not in terms of the external forms or observances as the orthodox may point out, but in terms of the openness of thought and reason that gave it the vitality to stand back in times of it's adversity.....  What were those parameters? If one needs to know them, one needs to travel back in history and understand why Islam could strike out on it's own, while others failed.....

Islam took roots in the human subconsciousness in the 7th century due to it's simple creed and methods of  connecting the human with the humane and divine. Historical evidences abound that speak for the humaneness that was the cornerstone of the Islamic creed. Equality of Men before God irrespective of colour, creed or station; Right of Women to property and life as opposed to being subjected to feminine infanticide as was the norm in Arabia, No place for Racism in the context of human differences, Absence of a priestly class and many more such reasons that were a revolutionary thought in those days of human endeavour, of course today the world is much more enlightened and better off than those days, but when  we compare a particular ideology to others, we need to look into the times to understand and decipher it ...... The gun was never the choice weapon of Islam even in the days when the existence of Islam was threatened by such powerful enemies as the Meccan Confederacy and even though Islam fought three wars in it's early days of existence, the gun was always secondary to the olive palm... so then today when Islam is in a strong position worldwide with more than a billion adherents and many Islamic nations, what place does the gun have in the normal discourse?

Why can't the champions of Islamic jurisprudence come out and speak out on this issue in an open debate? Why does the gun have to answer for every query that's put to Islam? That was not the way of the Prophet, why is that the way of the follower? What Islam are you following when you put up such conditions as can destroy the spirit of Islam?

Prophet Muhammed allowed the Christians and the Jews to reside peacefully in the nation of Islam and even forgave those hands that fought against him, including the one we know as Hind, the one who mutilated the body of his favourite uncle, Humza and ate his liver raw on the battlefield.... If you declare that you follow the principles as stated by him, what wrong did Salman do to pay with his blood?

An Anti-Blasphemy Law, as a law, goes against the creed of Islam; it was introduced in the Christian countries to prevent one sect speaking against the other, what place does it have in a Islamic society?.... The Quran explicitly states that the Muslims are not allowed to abuse the religion of the other for the reason that it may give unto the other the right and the opportunity to abuse Islam... the action of Malik has ensured that today, even those who would not speak against Islam have spoken.... aren't you, the leaders of Islam, then responsible for this repercussion? By what right do you dare to call yourself, the defenders of the faith them....?

And coming to the main point, what exactly does the law of Blasphemy achieve? How does this law ensure a better place to those living in your society? Can you force people to change their views about your religion by forcing them under threat of life and property or can you try and reach out to them via dialogue? The biggest massacres in Islam were not perpetrated by the foreign element unto the followers of Islam but by those who called themselves Muslims... examples can be made of Yezid and later the Abbasids .... are you the next link in the names of those who mouth Islam and kill it by actions?

So if you want to know who killed Salman, it's not Malik who killed him.... it's you who killed him ... you, the men and women of Islam who dared not speak against those who hijacked our religion for their purpose.... it's you, the men and women of Islam, who suffered silently when Islam was being chained by traitors within .... it's you, the men and women of Islam, who gave away the key of your religion to those who transfigured it and destroyed it beyond recognition .... and it's you, the men and women of Islam... who forced rational men and women out of Islam to wherever they found the right to be themselves  ..... Think why Islam which gave Avicenna to the world has given nothing in an entire millennium and you will know what I talk about.... Silence is a good thing, but not when your life is being threatened with extinction....


A lot has gone down the plains of Mount Arafat since those days and today, the religion that taught of enlightenment is a refugee of it's own thoughts and a prisoner of it's own conscience. Today, in times when the doctrine of Islam is in mortal threat from the world at large, Islam is not doing good by itself by being a ready supporter of it's demise by the ways of it's followers.... It's time for Ijtehad, it's time for a new reasoning.... It's time for a new Jihad... against those who claim to speak for your religion but take it away from your grasp.....

There is a Cat among the Doves, remove it from the doves or there shall be no more doves.... and conversely once there are no doves, there shall be no Cat either.... so act quick.... and remove the Cat before any more innocent doves face death from him....

Evidences of the Prosecution

MMXI is here .... and we are all watching it with a lot of hopes and expectations, but will anything change... I guess not, for one thing that I have really learned in life is this: the more things change, the more they remain constant ..... and maybe that's the reason why it's stated that those who fail to study their History tend to become History....

I will still continue speaking on Dr. Binayak Sen's curious case .... the last blog was all about why sedition should not be anymore a cause of treason for any person in any of the civilized or should I say, democratized nations of the world... Had it been treason, I would have understood and accepted the conviction - but the very nature of the case makes it difficult for me to suggest any reason why it even was fought - it should have been thrown out of the judicial window, considering the flimsiness of the case....

I took time off to post the second part of the blog because of the many threats and admonitions I received for my last blog.... It was not fear that stopped in my tracks but a feeling that the shriller the voices that condemn, the calmer should be the response....

Prima facie, the entire case is a stack of cards that cannot stand scrutiny even by the worst standards that can be applied .... Here is a guy, a pediatrician of repute from one of the best institutions of India, who has been working selflessly for the downtrodden, going where even the might of the state machinery fails..... a guy who has openly spoken against the Maoists and their tactics, has deplored the methods of warfare and criticized it's leadership.... It's indeed strange that this man has been singled out to be a Maoist....and on grounds that are as shaky as the plains of the Sunderbans after a cyclone.....

If tomorrow, one of my friends asks me to carry a letter to his friend who happens to be in another city, do I by the virtue of having carried a letter become a suspect in the eye of the law? When did an act of genuine humanitarian effort become a barometer of crime by guilt of association? If this be taken as the proof of wrong-doing, I do not know how many of us can avoid falling into this trap at one time or the other?

My critics would point out to the fact that these letters spoke of rebellion and unrest in the country.... that's a plea that's as irrational as it can be.... Going by the attestations of the police manning the jail, there was not a single instance wherein Dr. Binayak met the Maoist leader alone.... they must have been real masters of subterfuge and hypnosis if they were able to carry out such a brilliant piece of planning, all by themselves, in a cell, separated by irons and in presence of officers who kept on looking ... What were the officers discussing while the planning took place - the last Shahrukh Khan movie or the rising price of foodstuffs?

To the best of my knowledge, not a single officer has been accused of dereliction of duty... so it transpires that they were alert and brave soldiers of the motherland - so how could two individuals, who have neither been trained in subterfuge and camouflage carry out such a brilliant operation, not once but many times....

The jailor has also attested that all letters carried the official seal of the prison - in other words was pretty harmless - maybe the good jailor was not trained in the art of cryptology and the Chattisgarh government should make it compulsory on the incumbent and the ones that follow that he should have an advanced knowledge of the subject in the future to save such embarrassments .....

Another major point of contention for the security agencies is that, in one of the letters Dr. Sen was addressed as the Comrade, thus making him a Maoist! I am surprised by the gall of the prosecuting attorney, the stupidity of the defense and the irrationality of the Bench that such an interesting observation was allowed to go unchallenged in the court of Law!

Thank God, the leter did not have such terms as 'Saala' or else, we would have had a more powerful alliance - I mean Dr. Sen and his 'comrade' friend could have been brothers-in-law, we should really thank God, for small mercies..... I am thinking though, going by this particular logic, how many girls have I been married to and how many guys have become my brothers-in-arm.... I  hope none of them is a terrorist or else I am on my way to the prison, thanks to this brilliant piece of art.....

Mahatma Gandhi had once, when asked of the keystone of Indian legal system commented that he preferred a system wherein, even if a thousand guilty could be saved from their just punishments, even one single person should not be punished for the crime he did not commit.

Dr. Binayak Sen may or may not be a Maoist... I am no one to hold a brief for him but I do state that as a concerned citizen of this nation, that the charges framed on him should not seem framed and the evidence brought against him should be found lacking and flimsy.... Neither of the above contentions hold water in an intense cross-examination of the facts.... It's high time Judiciary redeems itself from the clutches of 'guilty by prosecution' syndrome....

Its time we thought deeply about the entire issue. And before I start getting threats again, let me reiterate, I am not a Maoist but I am not a Quisling either ....

The Curious Case of Dr. Binayak Sen's conviction on Sedition

One of the things, I really do not appreciate among the intelligentsia, whether in India or abroad, is their propensity to see things only through their rose-tinted glasses and to denounce all contrarian views as fascist or rightist .... What really makes me go mad in the brain and red in the face is the fact that these so-called mandarins of morality are often found to be appeasing to a fault to certain sections of society and critical to a detail to the others.... This is where my path diverges from these mandarins of morality for I believe that there should be the same set of laws for both the parties ... that it's important not only that Caesar and his wife should be above the law but also the entire retinue that associates itself with Caesar!

Still, there are times, when my own stand is found to be very much in sync with these custodians of public morality.... Contradictory? Well, I am quite a bundle of contradictions and so lately on one issue I have found myself closing ranks with the intelligentsia to a very large extent ... the case is that of the life-imprisonment imposed on Dr. Binayak Sen on charges of sedition.

This is indeed a curious case and a curious sentence for a crime under a curious charge... the charge of Sedition! And specially so, in a country like ours which got independence after a long battle wherein many of our national leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak were time again accused and imprisoned on the grounds of Sedition!

The question that I seem to be asking myself regularly these days is a simple one ... does a charge of sedition actually deserve merit in a democratic country and if yes, under what circumstances can the charge be made? And the more basic question is, does the concept of democracy allow for the charge of Sedition .... and finally, was the sentence proportionate to the crime, if any? Being a common man, I can only speak my heart on the last part, the learned judges do have much more material in connection with the case than a lay person like me to discuss the subtleties of the case, however I do think being an aware citizen of India, I can and should have a point of thought on the concept of Sedition....

The Indian constitution is a remarkable piece of art, in that it incorporates the best of all constitutions and provides for the loopholes in each and every constitution on Earth... Indeed, Indian ingenuity has to be appreciated that it can provide such a constitution and then tear it to shreds too ....

Para III of the Preamble to our Constitution underlines the Fundamental Rights of the Citizens of India.... Here I will not be concentrating on all the different rights including those enshrined in Articles 15-18 for in the current discussion, the important part of Part III that needs to be discussed, is enshrined in the Articles 19, 20, 21 and 22 ... in totality, these 4 articles give the citizenry of India the following rights:

• Freedom of speech and expression (although the phrase, "freedom of press" has not been explicitly defined, freedom of expression for all intent and purpose includes freedom of press.)
• Freedom to assemble peacefully without arms
• Freedom to form associations or unions
• Freedom to move freely throughout the territory of India
• Freedom to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India (This article does have a safeguard for the Tribal Regions, by restricting non-tribals from purchasing or moving into tribal lands. This has been done to protect them from exploitation of any sort. Furthermore, Article 370 restricts citizens from other Indian states and Kashmiri women who marry men from other states from purchasing land or property in Jammu & Kashmir.)
• Freedom to practice any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.

In addition to the above, the constitution also guarantees the citizenry the fundamental right to life and personal liberty, which in turn cites specific provisions in which these rights are applied and can be enforced. They are as follows:

• Protection with respect to conviction for offences is guaranteed in the right to life and personal liberty. According to Article 20, no one can be awarded punishment which is more than what the law of the land prescribes at that time.
• Protection of life and personal liberty is also stated under right to life and personal liberty. Article 21 declares that no citizen can be denied his life and liberty except by law. This means that a person's life and personal liberty can only be disputed if that person has committed a crime.
• Rights of a person arrested under ordinary circumstances is laid down in the right to life and personal liberty. No one can be arrested without being told the grounds for his arrest. If arrested, the person has the right to defend himself by a lawyer of his choice. Also an arrested citizen has to be brought before the nearest magistrate within 24 hours.

None of these rights are absolute; the constitution imposes restrictions on these rights. The government restricts these freedoms in the interest of the independence, sovereignty and integrity of India, and also in the interest of morality and public order, the government can impose restrictions on these rights. However, interestingly the right to life and personal liberty cannot be suspended, even in an emergency.

Let us now try and define Sedition: In simple words, Sedition is the stirring up of people against the government in power and is very much different from the much more intense word, Treason that means levying a war against the state.So if you look at it closely, Sedition is any overt act of a citizen or an organized group that not only criticizes the government of the day but also exhorts that people to start thinking on similar lines.... In the Indian scheme of things, there is a specific law against Sedition ... Sec124A of the IPC.

Sec 124A states, "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”

This brings us to an interesting point.... .the concept of Sedition as outlined above can be applied in equal measures to anyone in the state, a leader of an opposition party who may have an axe to grind against the ruling party can call on to the people with a stated objective of getting the people to change the government... should that be considered as Sedition? If yes, does that not sit heavily on the rights as enshrined by Para III of the Indian Constitution?

Secondly, if you look at Section 124A, it can be argued that the spirit of the law goes very much against the right to life and liberty as enshrined in Articles 20 and 21 ... to the letter of the law, they may be different but if the person on the basis of a speech or an action is construed to be acting in defiance of a government in power and arrested,  and his fundamental rights abrogated, in the interest of the nation or public mortality, then without a shred of doubt, even his right to life and liberty in endangered, even before the court of law can take due course and find out if the accused in indeed a perpetrator of dissatisfaction or a victim of government mores.... this defeats the very purpose of the founding fathers of the Indian Constitution!

I think a democracy, as defined by Abe Lincoln, is the government of the people, by the people and for the people and so a democracy can have varied viewpoints and there need not be a consensus to the differences within. If we get to a stage where a criticism to the government can constitute a case of sedition, isn't it the end of democracy as we know it? To take things to the conclusive end, this is a draconian act that can be used by the opponents of Democracy to stifle every voice of dissent .... If Sedition is allowed to be a part and parcel of the democratic process, wherein constructive criticism can be put into the garb of Sedition, time if not far when a welfare state would be converted into a police state for lack of space for political dissent and opposition.

I do not advocate that Sedition should be per se removed from the annals of Indian legal code but I do firmly believe that in a democratic setup, the concept of Sedition has outlived it's requirement.... It can only be brought to the light only and only in times of emergency, and even then should be used only for acts that challenge the independence, sovereignty and integrity of the country.... such a law does not have any need in a society that's democratic, mature and has a stomach for digesting dissent.... which is the most notable power in a democratic setup.... else what Sahir wrote for a fascist state can be true of India as well:

Bediyaan Aaj Bhi Pehney Hai Azeezaan-E-Watan
Farq Itna Hai Ki Zanjeer Mein Aawaaz Nahin Hai....

The handcuffs are still bound on the hands of the patriots of my land,
the only difference being, they don't scream their presence like in the past (Transliteration)