State needs to be more tolerant and circumspect while invoking laws on sedition and religious disaffection: Punjab & Haryana High Court

Disposing of a bail application moved by a person booked for sedition, the Punjab & Haryana High Court on Friday cautioned the State against indiscriminately invoking sedition and religious hate speech laws against citizens. (Jasbir Singh v. State of Punjab).Justice Sudhir Mittal stated:."... the State needs to be more tolerant and circumspect while invoking laws pertaining to sedition and religious disaffection. Current tendency to the contrary has been frowned upon by the Supreme Court of India."Punjab & Haryana High Court.The petition was filed by one Jasbir Singh, who has been incarcerated for close to six months on charges of sedition. He had streamed a video live on Facebook, venting his frustration over the Central and state governments' approach to handling the COVID-19 pandemic..On account of the video, the man was booked under Sections 124-A (Sedition) and 153-A (inciting communal hatred) of the Indian Penal Code..While the Court observed that his words were indeed intemperate and abusive, it ruled that that the same did not amount to inciting hatred or disaffection against the Government or against religious communities. .Rather, the Court found that "It is an expression of dissatisfaction with the functioning of the Government and criticism of its policies.".Encouraging citizens to criticise the government in a decent manner using parliamentary language, Singh's bail application was allowed. The judge said,."In a democracy every citizen has a right to voice his/her opinion freely and criticize the functioning of the Government. However, the same should be done in a decent manner and un-parliamentary language should not be adopted."Punjab & Haryana High Court.The petitioner's counsel Advocate Jasraj Singh pointed out to the Court that the accused had already been incarcerated for 6 months and 14 days, with no possibility of the trial beginning any time soon. This submission was also accepted by the Court while granting him bail..Justice Mittal emphasized that his remarks were not meant to be observations on the merits of the case..On these terms, the petition was disposed..Read the Order