NEW DELHI: The student lawyers pitched battle had an echo in the remote North East since many of its students study in Delhi, but two of its states- Assam and Meghalaya also top on this “offences against the state”, official records showed.
The archaic colonial-era sedition law is back in the spotlight after the arrest of Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Kanhaiya Kumar for allegedly raising anti-India slogans at an event organized to protest the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Many students from the region also participated in this demonstration with journalists against the marauding lawyers and silent police forces.
The bureau records the figures under two heads called offences against the state (under sections 121, 121A, 122, 123 and 124A of the Indian Penal Code) and those promoting enmity between different groups (under sections 153A and 153B IPC). These two figures are further combined under an umbrella term called ‘total offences against the state’.
The National Crime Records Bureau started collecting data on sedition and other offences against the state showed that 512 cases of ‘total offences against the state’ were reported during 2014.
The maximum number of such cases were reported in Kerala (72) followed by Assam (56), Karnataka (46), Rajasthan (39), Maharashtra (34) and Meghalaya (32).
Eight hundred and seventy two people (865 men and 7 women) were arrested under total offences committed against the state during the year. The maximum number of people arrested were reported in Maharashtra (204 out of 872 persons), accounting for 23.4% of total such arrests during 2014.
Out of the total 512 cases, 47 were reported under sedition during 2014. Jharkhand and Bihar have accounted for 72.3% of these cases. A total of 58 people were arrested for sedition in 2014. The maximum number of people or 28 was arrested in Bihar followed by 18 in Jharkhand under this offence.
Under the offences of waging war or attempt/conspiring to wage war or collecting arms for this purpose (sections 121, 121A, 122 and 123), a total of 129 cases were reported wherein maximum were reported in Assam (55) followed by Meghalaya (32) and Manipur (10). These three states together accounted for 75.2% of such cases. A total of 166 people were arrested in 2014 under these sections.
