New Delhi: Asserting that the law cannot be used to “quieten the disquiet”, a Delhi court Tuesday granted bail to two men charged with sedition over an allegedly fake Facebook video related to the farmers’ agitation.
In two identical orders, the court observed: “The law of sedition is a powerful tool in the hands of the state to maintain peace and order in the society. However, it cannot be invoked to quieten the disquiet under the pretence of muzzling the miscreants.”
The court was hearing applications filed by two accused — Devilal Burdak and Swaroop Ram. The two, in judicial custody since earlier this month, were accused in the same FIR filed under Indian Penal Code Sections 124A (sedition), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using a forged document or electronic record as genuine).
The court said it did not think sedition can be invoked in the cases.
It explained: “Evidently, law proscribes any act which has a tendency to create disorder or disturbance of public peace by resort to violence. In the absence of any exhortation, call, incitement or instigation to create disorder or disturbance of public peace by resort to violence or any allusion or oblique remark or even any hint towards this objective, attributable to the applicant accused… In my considered opinion, on a plain reading of the tagline attributed to the applicant/accused, invocation of Section 124 A IPC is a seriously debatable issue.”
Read the full text of the two court orders here: