326 sedition cases filed between 2014 and 2019

Out of the cases registered, chargesheets were filed in 141 cases while only six people were convicted

NEW DELHI: A total of 326 cases were registered in the country under the controversial colonial era law of sedition between 2014 and 2019 in which just six persons were convicted.

According to the Union Home Ministry data, a total of 326 cases were registered under the sedition law — the highest, 54, in Assam — between 2014 and 2019.

Out of the cases registered, chargesheets were filed in 141 cases while only six people were convicted for the offence in six years of the period discussed in the data, officials said.

In Assam, out of the 54 sedition cases registered, chargesheets were filed in 26 cases and trials were completed in 25 cases.

However, not a single case led to conviction between 2014 and 2019, the data says.

Jharkhand registered 40 cases under the Section 124 (A) during the six years, out of which chargesheets were filed in 29 cases, and trials were completed in 16 cases. Only one person was convicted out of all these cases filed in the state.

In Haryana, 31 cases were registered under the sedition law with chargesheets filed in 19 cases, and trials completed in six cases. Here too, only one person was convicted.

Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, and Kerala registered an equal number of cases, 25, under the sedition law.

While Bihar and Kerala could not file chargesheet in any of the cases, Jammu and Kashmir filed it in three cases. However, no such case registered in the three states between 2014 and 2019 led to conviction.

Twenty-two sedition cases were filed in Karnataka with chargesheets filed in 17 cases, but trial could be completed in only one case. The state too had zero conviction under sedition law in six years.

Seventeen sedition cases were filed in Uttar Pradesh and eight in West Bengal between 2014 and 2019. While chargesheets were filed in eight cases in UP and in five cases in West Bengal, no one was convicted in the two states.

In Delhi, four sedition cases were registered between 2014 and 2019, no chargesheet has been filed in any case, nor has anyone been convicted.

No sedition case was filed in Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Chandigarh, Daman and

Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli in the six-year period.

One sedition case each was filed in Maharashtra (in 2015), Punjab (2015), and Uttarakhand (2017).

According to the home ministry data, 2019 saw the highest, 93, sedition cases registered in the country.

In 2018, there were filed 70 such cases, followed by 51 in 2017, 47 in 2014, 35 in 2016, and 30 in 2015.

Four chargesheets were filed in the country in 2019 under the sedition law, 38 in 2018, 27 in 2017, 16 in 2016, 14 in 2014, and six in 2015.

Among the six convicted, two got the sentence in 2018 and one each in 2019, 2017, 2016, and 2014.

Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, and Kerala registered an equal number of cases, 25, under the sedition law

NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday conferred 13 Shaurya Chakra awards including six posthumously to armed forces personnel while Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande received the Param Vishisht Seva medal. The Shaurya Chakra is India’s third-highest peacetime gallantry award. The awards were conferred at a ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan. The gallantry awards were given to the personnel for displaying conspicuous gallantry, indomitable courage and extreme devotion to duty, said an official statement. The six personnel, who were conferred the Shaurya Chakra posthumously, were Captain Ashutosh Kumar of the 18th Battalion of the Madras Regiment, Havildar Anil Kumar Tomar of the Rajput Regiment, Havildar Pinku Kumar of the Jat Regiment, Havildar Kashiray Bammanalli from the Corps of Engineers, Naib Subedar Sreejith from the 17th Battalion of Madras Regiment and Sepoy Maruprolu Jaswanth Kumar Reddy, also from the 17th Battalion of the Madras Regiment.