'Delhi LG And His Masters Have No Place For Tolerance': Chidambaram On Nod To Prosecute Arundhati Roy
Slamming Delhi LG Saxena for approving the prosecution of author Arundhati Roy in a case related to provocative speeches, Chidambaram said that the 'LG and his masters' have no place for tolerance.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday slammed Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena for approving the prosecution of author Arundhati Roy in a 2010 case pertaining to provocative speeches, saying the "LG and his masters" have no place in their regime for tolerance or forbearance. The former home minister said there was no justification in 2010 to register the case against Roy on the charge of sedition and there is no justification now to sanction prosecution against her.
Chidambaram remarks came after Saxena approved the prosecution of novelist Arundhati Roy and a former Kashmiri professor in a 2010 case involving alleged inflammatory speeches, according to Raj Niwas authorities. The FIR was filed against Roy and former lecturer Sheikh Showkat Hussain following the instructions issued by the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate in New Delhi, they added.
Reacting to the development, Chidambaram said, "I stand by what I said in 2010 on a speech by Ms Arundhati Roy, the well known writer and journalist." "There was no justification then to register a case against her on the charge of sedition. There is no justification now to sanction prosecution against her," he said on X. The law on sedition has been explained by the Supreme Court on more than one occasion, he noted.
मैंने 2010 में सुप्रसिद्ध लेखिका और पत्रकार सुश्री अरुंधति रॉय के भाषण पर जो कहा था, उस पर आज भी कायम हूं।
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) October 10, 2023
तब उनके खिलाफ देशद्रोह के आरोप में मामला दर्ज करने का कोई औचित्य नहीं था।
अब उनके खिलाफ अभियोजन की मंजूरी देने का कोई औचित्य नहीं है।
राजद्रोह का कानून माननीय सर्वोच्च…
The Congress leader stated that a speech that does not directly incite violence will not amount to sedition. When speeches are delivered, however much others may disagree with those, the State must show tolerance and forbearance, he added. "I stand by free speech and against the colonial law of sedition. Section 124A has been misused often and hence it must be scrapped," Chidambaram said.
"There are other provisions of law that are adequate to deal with incitement to violence. It is obvious that the LG (and his masters) have no place in their regime for tolerance or forbearance; or for that matter the essentials of democracy," he said in his long post on X.
Roy and Hussain were charged under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (public mischief through statements) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
A legitimate authorisation for prosecution from the state government is required under Section 196(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for specific offences such as hate speech, hurting religious sensibilities, hate crimes, sedition, waging war against the state, and fostering enmity, among others. Two other suspects, Kashmiri separatist leader Sayed Ali Shah Geelani and Delhi University lecturer Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, were acquitted by the Supreme Court in the Parliament assault case on technical grounds.
On October 28, 2010, Sushil Pandit, a Kashmiri social activist, filed a complaint with the Tilak Marg Station House Officer against various people and speakers involved in delivering "provocative speeches" in public at a conference organised by the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) under the banner of "Azadi - The Only Way" on October 21.
The complaint said that the subject addressed and spread was "Kashmir's Separation from India." It was also claimed that the speeches were inflammatory in character, putting public peace and security at risk.
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