Expressing views different from government’s opinion not sedition: Supreme Court

By LE Staff

New Delhi, March 3: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said expressing views that are different from the government’s opinion cannot be termed as “sedition” and dismissed a petition against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah.

“Expression of views which are dissent and different from government opinion cannot be termed as seditious,” said a bench headed by Justice S K Kaul. 

The top court was hearing a PIL against Abdullah for his allegedly “seditious” statement on the revocation of Article 370 that gave special status to the erstwhile state. 

The petitioner failed to substantiate his allegation that Abdullah had sought the help of China and Pakistan against India on the issue of Article 370 which was scrapped in August 2019, the Supreme Court said and imposed a fine of ₹ 50,000 on the petitioners. 

In the PIL, petitioners Rajat Sharma and Neh Srivastava had described Abdullah as “anti-national”, citing the National Conference leader’s comments against the Centre’s move to end the special Constitutional status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370. If he was allowed to continue as MP, “it would amount to approval of anti-national activities by anyone in India, which would be against the unity of the country”, the petition had said.

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