326 Sedition Cases In India Between 2014-19, Just 6 Convictions: Home Ministry

New Delhi: The Supreme Court had questioned three days ago whether the sedition law was needed 75 years after India attained Independence.

Hearing a bunch of petitions, the apex court also voiced its concern about Section 124 (A) of the IPC — offence of sedition – being misused, with no accountability of executing agencies.

The Union Home ministry has furnished data to set the record straight. A total of 326 cases were registered in India under the controversial penal law on sedition between 2014 and 2019, of which chargesheets were filed in 141 cases and only 6 persons were convicted.

Among the six convicted, 2 were sentenced in 2018, and 1 each in 2019, 2017, 2016 and 2014.

Figures of 2020 are yet to be compiled, officials said.

Of the 326 cases filed during the 2014-2019 period, Assam accounted for the maximum of 54, of which 26 chargesheets were filed and trials completed in 25 cases. However, there has been no conviction in the state between 2014 and 2019.

Jharkhand was No. 2 with 40 sedition cases, out of which chargesheets were filed in 29 and trials completed in 16 cases, with 1 person being convicted.

Haryana followed with 31 cases, of which charge-sheets were filed in 19 and trials completed in 6 cases, with just 1 person convicted.

Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir and Kerala registered 25 sedition cases each during the six-year period, with Bihar and Kerala failing to file a single chargesheet, and Jammu & Kashmir 3. No one was convicted in any of these three states.