Union Home Minister Amit Shah has sought to allay worries over the provision of ‘desh droh’ under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and said nobody can be booked for speaking against the government or any leader.
In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Shah said under the new laws, ‘desh droh’ has been clearly defined as acts endangering the unity, integrity, sovereignty, security or economic security of the country.
“No one can be booked for speaking against the government or any leader under the new laws. If there are concerns about misuse of the law, what is the judiciary there for? I believe the legislature has done its job well in framing the laws, and there is no confusion on what constitutes ‘desh droh’,” said the home minister.
The provision of ‘desh droh’ has a sentence of seven years or a lifelong jail term, he added.
Read full interview in the latest issue of THE WEEK (issue dated Feb 18) now on stands, or CLICK HERE.
In the new Nyaya Sanhita, the provision of ‘desh droh’ has replaced Section 124A of the IPC, which defined the offence of sedition.
Shah said leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Veer Savarkar were put in jail on charges of sedition by the British.
“The British concept of sedition continued even after independence to punish anyone who spoke against the government. But now we have abolished this law,” he claimed.
