The highest number of sedition cases between 2014 and 2021 were filed in Assam, according to an Indian Express analysis based on data from the National Crime Records Bureau.
In this eight-year period, six states accounted for 250 cases – more than half of the total 475 cases filed – across the country. Assam was followed by Haryana (42), Jharkhand (40), Karnataka (38), Andhra Pradesh (32) and Jammu and Kashmir (29).
States and UTs that did not register even one sedition case during this period were Meghalaya, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Puducherry. Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Lakshadweep registered just one sedition case each.
Nine other states and UTs saw sedition cases in double digits – Manipur (28), Uttar Pradesh (27), Bihar (25), Kerala (25), Nagaland (17), Delhi (13), Himachal Pradesh (12), Rajasthan (12) and West Bengal (12).
The data suggests that around one in six sedition cases in the last eight years came from Assam. Of the 69 sedition cases filed in the state, three were filed in 2021, 12 in 2020, 17 in 2019 and also in 2018, 19 in 2017 and one in 2014. No sedition case was lodged in 2015 and 2016.
Newslaundry had earlier explained why India still has a sedition law. Here is a graphic summing up what the law signifies.
Andhra Pradesh registered the highest – 29 of the total 76 – sedition cases filed under IPC section 124A last year, according to the latest NCRB data.
The surge in Andhra Pradesh is in sharp contrast to 2020 when no sedition case was recorded in the state. According to the report, Crime in India, the country’s tally of 76 has also seen a surge as compared to the 73 cases filed in 2020. Meanwhile, there was a dip in the total number of offences against the state – 149 as compared to the 172 in 2020 – under various special and local laws and IPC provisions.
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