Civil Liberties

https://twitter.com/superfan_nav/status/1358193897441271812 

Nav Bhatia asks When did basic Human Rights become a debate topic?

When did it become a topic that required choosing a side?

Why our criminal justice system urgently needs a law for compensation for those under illegal detention BYAISHWARYA MEHTA  https://www.theleaflet.in/why-our-criminal-justice-system-urgently-needs-a-law-for-compensation-for-those-under-illegal-detention/
JULY 1, 2021 

the jurisprudence on this matter, the Supreme Court has (correctly) held the State responsible for the tortious acts of its employees, which in these cases, are the police, especially where there has been a violation of fundamental rights due to the abuse of powers given to police officials.

In our country, unfortunately, instances of such misuse of power by police officials, including illegal detention, custodial deaths, brutality, and torture are fairly routine. However, to date there is no set of guidelines issued by the court regarding the calculation of the quantum of compensation to be awarded.

Furthermore, wrongful arrests lead to the violation of not only the arrestee’s rights, but also accrue net harm to the entire society. This manifests in multiple forms: the actual offender being at large within society, free to commit more offences; the drop in tax revenue due to the arrestee being denied the opportunity to work; the additional expenditure on the maintenance of the detainee in prison; the addition to the backlog of cases pending before an overburdened judiciary.

The Lost Right to Compensation of Wrongfully Convicted Victims: A Critique https://www.lawctopus.com/academike/the-lost-right-to-compensation-of-wrongfully-convicted-victims-a-critique/ November 1, 2020 Eleen Garg, Amity Law School, Delhi 

The Indian judicial system has demonstrated a lack of accountability by failing to repay citizens who have been jailed on false charges. The non-uniform approach adopted by Judiciary has further worsened their disorderly situation.

PIL is seen as an efficient method against the State’s lack of knowledge. However, factors such as illiteracy, poverty, lack of legal identity, social condemnation, and lack of quality legal assistance often act as an impediment in access to justice for poor, which manifests the ailing condition of the legal system of poverty-stricken India.

Journalist, activist, re-arrested under National Security Act for Facebook posts on deceased BJP leader https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/journalist-activist-re-arrested-under-national-security-act-for-facebook-posts-on-deceased-bjp-leader-254703 The Manipur Police has re-arrested journalist Kishorchandra Wangkhem and activist Erendro Leichombam under the National Security Act (NSA) after they had been granted bail for an earlier arrest for their allegedly derisive social media posts on state BJP chief S Tikendra Singh, following his demise due to COVID-19 last week. ..The BJP state vice-president Usham Deban Singh and general secretary P Premananda Meetei filed a complaint against Wangkhem and Leichombam, after which the police picked them up from their residences here.  

Manipur High Court Orders Release of Journalist Detained Under NSA Over Facebook Post On Cow Dung Cure For COVID https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/manipur-high-court-orders-interim-release-of-journalist-kishorchandra-wangkhemcha-178003 Shrutika Pandey23 July 2021 His detention would be as much a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution as it was in the case of Erendro Leichombam.

At an event organised last week in memory of actor and activist Vira Sathidar, a group of young cultural activists sang the lyrics of Faiz’s famous Hum Dekhenge. The Nagpur police have now booked the organisers and the event’s speaker under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which pertains to sedition, along with other sections of the BNS, including Section 196 (promoting enmity between groups) and Section 353 (statements conducive to public mischief).

https://thewire.in/government/faiz-ahmed-faiz-hum-dekhenge-sedition-vira-sathidar 

Sathidar, an accomplished actor, prolific writer, journalist, and political thinker, died on April 13, 2021, after battling COVID-19 for over a week. Since his passing, his wife, Pushpa, has organised an annual memorial. This year, social activist Uttam Jagirdar was invited to speak. Although the FIR does not name individuals explicitly, it refers to the event’s organiser and speaker.

Despite an ongoing stay by the Supreme Court on the application of sedition charges, the Nagpur police have booked the organisers and speakers under the section. On May 11, 2022, the apex court had issued a historic order, staying all pending trials, appeals, and proceedings under section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code until the sedition law’s re-examination was complete. Since then, the BJP-led government has replaced the IPC with the BNS. However, the new law does not eliminate the sedition provision. Instead, the BNS introduces Section 152, which closely resembles the sedition law without explicitly using the word ‘sedition’.

by Sukanya Shantha

19/05/2025

https://thewire.in/law/sedition-free-speech-law-commission-supreme-court 

The 22nd Law Commission of India recently submitted its final report (“Usage of the Law of Sedition”) on the constitutionality of section 124A of the Indian Penal Code. Law Commission reports exert considerable influence on both the government and the Supreme Court and, given that the provision’s constitutionality is pending, it is important to closely read a document that will likely form an important part of any future judgement on the matter.

The report walks the reader through sedition law’s history in India, the Law Commission’s previous reports that discussed the law, Constituent Assembly debates, and the courts’ public-order jurisprudence. After discussing the threats to India’s security and the law’s “alleged” misuse (the Commission passes the buck onto the police instead of the “political class,” as if the police are an autonomous body) and undertaking a wide-ranging comparative survey of sedition law in diverse jurisdictions (the UK, US, Australia, and Canada!), the report concludes with why the law should be retained on the books.

It adds a series of recommendations that ignore the Supreme Court’s post-Kedar Nath jurisprudence, set out vague procedural guidelines, and increase the punishment for the offence.

by Kieran Correia

05/06/2023