CONCEPT – SECTION 124 OF INDIAN PENAL CODE (IPC)

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CONCEPT – SECTION 124 OF INDIAN PENAL CODE (IPC)

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• Section 124 in The Indian Penal Code 
1.  Assaulting President, Governor, etc., with intent to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power — Whoever, with the intention of including or compelling the President of India, or the Governor of any State, to exercise or refrain from exercising in any manner any of the lawful powers of such President or Governor, assault or wrongfully restrains, or attempts wrongfully to restrain, or overawes, by means of criminal force or the show of criminal force, or attempts so to overawe, such President or Governor, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.
• Link with other sections: Assault, wrongful restraint and criminal force have been defined under sections 351, 339 and 350 of the Code respectively. A part of the language used in section 121-A has been repeated in this section. The offence under this section is cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable, and is triable by court of session.
• Objective: The object of Section 124 of the code is to protect high officials so as to enable them to function freely without fear of personal harm while carrying out their duties. Section 124 of the code is an amplification of the third clause of Section 121 A of the code. The following are ingredients of Section 124 of the code: 

1. It is an offence committed against the President of India or the Governor of a State; 
2. The accused must commit one of the following acts:
1. Assault or attempt to commit assault; or   
2. Wrongful restraint or attempt to restrain; or  
3. Use of criminal force or show of criminal force by the accused. 
3. Doing one of the above acts with the intention of inducing or compelling such person to exercise or refrain from exercising any of his lawful powers.
4. This protection only extends to them so long as they exercise any of their lawful powers, it being immaterial if they were rightly or properly exercised. If, however, this assault was committed to induce the person to refrain from exercising an unlawful power, the assault would have to be dealt with under the ordinary law. 
5. The offence under Section 124 is cognizable but warrant may be issued in first instance. It is non-bailable and non- compoundable and is exclusively triable by the Court of Session.

• A background: India's first prime minister had described this section as "highly objectionable and obnoxious". Some Indians in the past have been charged under this act. Prominent freedom fighters charged with sedition law include Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mohandas Gandhi! This Section 124A was introduced by the British colonial government in 1870 when it felt the need for a specific section to deal with the offence.

• Some cases explained :

1. Charged with sedition, cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was sent to jail for two weeks by a Mumbai court but was released on bail. Trivedi did not apply for bail in the case until the sedition charge, for which maximum punishment is life imprisonment, was dropped, even as the Maharashtra government sought to distance itself from the case. He was arrested under IPC Section 124 (sedition), section 66 A of Information Technology Act and section 2 of Prevention of Insults to Nation Honour Act. The Kanpur-based artist was accused of putting up banners mocking the Constitution during a rally of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare. One cartoon titled, 'Gang rape of Mother India' showed a 'Mother India' dressed in a tri-colour sari, with politicians and bureaucrats about to assault her, with a gleeful beast standing by described as 'Corruption'. One cartoon showed India's national emblem, the Ashoka Lions, with foxes rather than lions. In the inscription on the emblem, the words 'Satyamev Jayate' are replaced with 'Brashtamev Jayate' (meaning corruption alone triumphs) and a danger sign. He was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by RPI.
2. An Indian pediatrician and activist, Dr Binayak Sen, was the national vice-president of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL). He was accused of sedition by the Chhattisgarh government, but was granted bail on April 15, 2011, by the Supreme Court of India which said that no evidence of sedition was produced against the accused. On 24 December, 2010, the Additional Sessions and District Court Judge of Raipur had found Binayak Sen, Naxal ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata businessman Piyush Guha, guilty of sedition for helping Maoists in their fight against the state. In May 2007, Dr Sen was detained for allegedly supporting the outlawed Naxalites, thereby violating the provisions of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act 2005 (CSPSA) and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967. The evidence presented against him included his meetings with the jailed Naxalite leader Narayan Sanyal, etc.

• Some cases explained:

1. Noted writer Arundhati Roy was sought to be charged with sedition for advocating independence for the disputed Kashmir region. Arundhati, Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others were booked on charges of sedition by Delhi Police for their "anti-India" speech at a seminar in 2010. The filing of the FIR came following a directive from a local court on a petition filed by Sushil Pandit who alleged that Geelani and Roy made anti-India speeches at a conference on "Azadi-the Only Way" on October 21, 2010. Hurriyat leader Geelani shared the dais with Roy and pro-Maoist leader Varavara Rao among others.Reacting to the court order, Roy had said that perhaps they should "posthumously file a charge against Jawaharlal Nehru" and cited 14 instances where the first Prime Minister has said about "the question of accession in any disputed territory or state must be decided in accordance with wishes of people".
2. Fireband leader Praveen Togadia was in 2003 slapped with the charge of sedition by the Rajasthan government after which an Ajmer court denied bail and extended his judicial remand. The charges include an attempt "to wage a war against the nation.” Togadia, who was jailed on charges of defying the prohibitory orders and ban on distribution of tridents, also faced a charge under Section 121-A of IPC (waging war or attempting anti-national activity).
3. Simranjit Singh Mann, president of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar, was arrested from Sangrur district of Punjab in connection with four different cases of sedition registered against him. Mann had raised pro-Khalistan slogans on June 6, 2005 in the golden temple complex on the 21st anniversary of Operation Blue Star. Mann admitted that he had helped Bhindranwale and his men by distributing arms while he was posted in Faridkot as a senior superintendent of police in the early 1980s. Mann was named in the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, but investigations could not substantiate the charges and hence he was not prosecuted in that case.

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