Sedition in Liberal DemocraciesExamining the relationship between sedition and liberal democracies, particularly in India, this book looks at the biography of sedition laws, its contradictory position against free speech, and democratic ethics. Recent sedition cases registered in India show that the law in its wide and diverse deployment was used against agitators in a community-based pro-reservation movement, group of university students for their alleged ‘anti-national’ statements, anti-liquor activists, and anti-nuclear movement, to name a few. Set against its contemporary use, this book has used sedition as a lens to probe the fate of political speech in liberal democracy. The lived reality of the law of sedition in changing anthropological sites is juxtaposed with its positivist existence. Anushka Singh uses a comparative framework keeping in focus the Indian experience backed by fieldwork in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Delhi, and includes a comparative perspective from England, the USA, and Australia to contribute to debates on sedition within liberal democracies at large, especially in the wake of the proliferation of counter-terror legislations. |
Contents
The Past | |
Sedition | |
Sedition and the Judicial Discourse in Postcolonial India | |
Caste Class Community and the Everyday Tales of | |
Indian Democracy and the Moment of Contradiction | |
Democracies | |
Index | |
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accessed accused activists activities Amendment anti-national argument arrested Australia bail Bhagana Bihar British charge of sedition charge sheet Chhattisgarh Code colonial Communist conspiracy Constitution context conviction criminal Dalit debate defence defined Delhi democratic deshdroh disaffection discourse England extreme speech free speech freedom of expression Gandhi harm Haryana hate speech hence High Court idea illocutionary incitement India Indian Express intention interpreted invoked involved Jats judgment judicial Kaithal district Kashmir Khalistan KMKU law of sedition legal regimes libel liberal democracy liberty Maharashtra Maoist misprision of treason movement Mumbai nation Naxal offence of sedition organizations Party penalized People’s perlocutionary person police political offences prosecution protest public order Punjab restriction right to freedom Salwa Judum Section 124A sedition law seditionist Sikh Singh society speech act speech crimes Supreme Court target terrorism Tilak treason trial UAPA understanding of sedition verdict village violence