No charges of sedition likely against Geelani, Roy

President Obama’s visit and the ongoing dialogue with Srinagar, makes the home ministry bury the hatchet on sedition controversy

BY Iftikhar Gilani

Arundhati Roy

NEW DELHI: Union home minister, P Chidambaram has finally put his foot down against filing cases of sedition against writer and activist, Arundhati Roy and Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani for making “provocative” speeches at a seminar in the Capital last week. The minister has returned the file, from Delhi police, which sought permission to file cases against the two under section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The government has also decided not to take any action against the organisers of the seminar, arguing that it was held after due police permission.

Sources in the ministry told Tehelka that the decision was taken at the highest political level, as any action against the seminar and the speakers would have adversely affected the dialogue process with Srinagar, initiated recently by the government, with the help of its three interlocutors.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani

Though any state police does not need permission of the home ministry to file a case of sedition, the Delhi Police, had forwarded the concerned file to the ministry, after consulting its legal cell, keeping in view the political fall-out of the case.

Further, sources said the government did not want to embarrass itself on the eve of the forthcoming visit of US President Barrack Obama. The ministry also fears that action against Geelani and Roy could re-ignite stone-pelting protests in the Valley, at a time when the three newly- appointed interlocutors are touring the state. “That is the last thing we want in the run-up to US President Barack Obama’s maiden India visit next week,” a source said.

Under section 124A of the IPC, 1860, anyone who provokes a feeling of hatred, contempt or disaffection towards a government established by law is punishable. The punishment can be anything between three years imprisonment and a life term along with fine.

Though the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been gunning for Arundhati Roy and Geelani since the seminar, at least the writer has received support from various quarters. Social activist and member of Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), Aruna Roy said, "Just the expression of an opinion without inciting people is not seditious. She has just talked and she has a right to her opinion just as much as anybody else,” she said.