'Bad taste' and sedition: A pattern in BJP-governed states

Before Assam police picked up Mevani over a tweet on Modi, an elderly politician in Manipur was subjected to the same treatment for a comment on Amit Shah

Amit Shah.: PTI Photo

Umanand Jaiswal   |   TT  |  Guwahati   |   22.04.22  : Narendra Modi today, Amit Shah yesterday. Assam today, Manipur yesterday.

Unwittingly or otherwise, BJP-governed states are becoming battlegrounds for determining the difference between “bad taste” and graver offences when commenting on those in high places in a democracy.

Less than a fortnight before Assam police picked up Jignesh Mevani over a tweet on the Prime Minister with a reference to Nathuram Godse, Sanaoujam Shyamcharan Singh, an elderly Congress politician in Manipur, was subjected to the same treatment for an acid-dripping comment on Union home minister Amit Shah.

Singh, a Congress spokesperson, had appeared on a TV debate on April 9 and roasted Shah over his contested claim that all eight states in the Northeast had agreed to make Hindi compulsory up to Class X.

A court order on bail quoted Singh as having said: “There are three races: Caucasian, the Negroids and the Mongoloids.” Then, the order said, Singh “questioned where Amit Shah belonged amongst these categories. And not knowing where he fit in, he had expressed whether he came from the family of ‘bearded monkeys’.”

On April 11, Imphal police had arrested Singh, 65, close to midnight on a complaint from a BJP youth leader and booked him for sedition.

On April 12, the court of the judicial magistrate (first class), Imphal West-II, granted bail to Singh.

The court observed that although the use of some words was “avoidable” and in “bad taste”, it cannot “by any stretch of imagination be termed prima facie seditious”. The court also spoke up for the freedom of expression and the right to express views that might be unpalatable to the government.

The complaint against Singh, former general secretary of the All Manipur Bar Association, was lodged by Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha Manipur president Manoharmayum Barish Sharma. The complaint accused Singh of deliberately and maliciously humiliating and belittling “Hindus of mainland India by even terming them as animal” and using “derogatory language, thereby hurting the racial and religious feelings of the entire India, which amounts to sedition”.

With his complaint, Sharma had handed over to Imphal police station a 4.26-minute video clip of the TV discussion that contained the allegedly seditious and derogatory comments.

The police booked Singh under IPC sections dealing with criminal conspiracy, sedition, deliberate and malicious acts to outrage religious feelings, insult to provoke breach of peace, statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes and criminal intimidation.

Robert Lhungdim, duty judicial magistrate, Imphal West, heard the clip and the submissions of the lawyers from both sides and concluded that Singh had made the statements to “highlight” his opinion on the “undesirability” of making Hindi compulsory in schools and that he had placed his side at a talk show where the participants aired conflicting views.

The bail order said the words and the language used by the accused prima facie did not make out a case of imposition of “such serious allegation” that entailed that he be sent to police custody. The prosecution had sought that Singh be remanded in five days’ police custody.

The court said in the bail order: “...Freedom of speech and expression is one of the most sacred fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution. Everyone is entitled to express their voices and opinion on issues that they feel strongly whether it be favourable or against the government. The act of the prosecution in slapping sedition law against the accused person is prima facie lacking.”

On the other offences, the court, without going into the detailed merits of the case, found that the statements were “prima facie not offensive or derogatory or foul to such extent” to send him to custody.

“The accused having participated in the talk show seemed to have passionately made his point by using the said statements which is now the crux of this FIR being launched against him. What evidence the prosecution produces to sustain the offences levelled against him will be a matter which the prosecution will eventually have to prove in the court and satisfy the court,” the bail order said.

The court observed that while dwelling on Shah’s statement, Singh had argued that India was a country with a composite culture and that the imposition of Hindi had the potential to affect the country’s diversity.

“He gave example of Manipur and said that Manipur has about 22 to 23 communities with different languages and that before we talk about making Hindi compulsory why not make Manipuri compulsory in our state first. And said that if Amit Shah had the power, he should first tackle this issue,” the bail order said, referring to Singh’s sarcastic remarks.

“Further, he went on to make a point about how races of the world are classified based on skin colour,” the bail order noted, proceeding to make the “monkey” reference. The next court hearing is on April 27.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau’s data from 2021, Manipur recorded the highest number of sedition cases (15) in 2020 followed by Assam (12), Karnataka (8) and Uttar Pradesh (7). The BJP is in power in all four states.