In PSA ‘Infested’ J&K, Sedition Law Is A Recent Entry

The sedition law is a late entry into Kashmir Valley, where the police still prefer to use the Public Safety Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Lawyers say after the abrogation of Article 370 and replacing the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) with the Indian Penal Code, the police are using sedition law in some cases. The police in April arrested 13 persons, mostly youth from old city Srinagar, accusing them of chanting “anti-national slogans” at historic Jamia Masjid post congregational Friday prayers on April 8. 

Cases were registered against them in Nowhatta police station under  FIR no 16/2022 under IPC sections 124A (sedition) and 447 (criminal trespass). According to their lawyer Mir Urfi, the Courts granted bail to some of the accused while others have been detained under the Public Safety Act. In 2019 alone, after the abrogation abrogated Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state of J&K into two Union Territories, 11 cases were registered under sedition law in J&K.

The lawyers say the administration's usual practice in most of the cases where the courts grant bail to the accused arrested under the UAPA or sedition or other sections is to use the Public Safety Act, a preventive detention law, to keep people under detention without trial for long.

The Jammu and Kashmir Public Security Act (PSA) is preventive detention legislation that allows the authorities to detain a person without conviction for up to two years if they are deemed a threat to public order or national security. Under it, none of the regular safeguards that are assured to an accused under the criminal justice system apply. Amnesty International has described it as ‘lawless law.’ The law has been retained after the adaptation and extension of central laws to Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370. The Jammu and Kashmir government says 890 central laws have been extended to Jammu and Kashmir and 130 state laws have applied to J&K after modifications after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. 

The detention of journalist Fahad Shah is an example. In Feb this year, Pulwama police arrested Shah under UAPA. He was granted bail by a special court under NIA Act after 22 days of custody. After this, Shopian Police arrested him under UAPA and the Court again granted him bail. Later the administration booked him under PSA. The detention order under PSA issued by the district magistrate Srinagar accused Shah of having “radical ideology since his childhood.”

The lawyers say that under Ranbir Penal Code, the main criminal code that was applicable in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, sedition law was as stringent as it is under IPC but the procedure to use it against a person was far different from the IPC.  According to Mir Urfi under 124 A RPC no prosecution could be initiated under this section except on a complaint made by a district magistrate. She says it was one of the reasons the officials weren’t using section 124 A of RPC randomly. However, she said after the abrogation of Article 370 and replacement of the CrPc by the IPC, the police had started filing cases against the accused under the sedition law. But, she says, the PSA continues to be the ‘favourite” of the administration. 

The lawyers say Kashmiri students studying outside the Valley have been booked under sedition laws for their commenting or liking on social media. In August 2016, the police arrested a Kashmiri engineer on the grounds of sedition, for ‘liking’ and posting a series of Facebook posts that called for India to withdraw from Kashmir.

On October 27, last year, three Kashmir students, who were enrolled in RBS Engineering College UP under the PM Special Scholarship Scheme for the students of J-K, were arrested for allegedly posting a WhatsApp status praising Pakistan players after their victory against India in a T20 cricket match. An FIR under Indian Penal Code sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between groups) and 505(1)(b) (cause fear or alarm to the public) and section 66F (cyber terrorism) of the Information Technology Act was registered by Agra police against them. On March 30, the Allahabad high court granted bail to the students and after almost a month they were released after completing legal formalities.