“Expression of views which are dissent and different from government opinion cannot be termed as seditious,” the Supreme Court said.
Dismissing a petition against Jammu and Kashmir MP Farooq Abdullah, the apex court today said expressing views that are different from government opinion cannot be termed “sedition”.
“Expression of views which are dissent and different from government opinion cannot be termed as seditious,” the Supreme Court said.
The top court stressed that the petitioner failed to substantiate his allegation that Farooq Abdullah had sought the help of China and Pakistan against India on Article 370 on special status for Jammu and Kashmir, which was scrapped in August 2019.
The petitioners were fined ₹ 50,000.
The National Conference chief had made comments protesting against the centre’s move to end special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, to which the petitioners Rajat Sharma and Neh Srivastava had objected. Farooq Abdullah “is anti-national” and 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”, their petition had said.
Farooq Abdullah is a National Conference MP from Srinagar. the former Chief Minister of J&K and his son Omar Abdullah were among scores of leaders detained to preempt any protests after the historic move to abrogate Article 370 and convert Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories.
However, after being released, Mr Abdullah has frequently targeted the centre over the constitutional changes made in regards to the state and has vowed to get the special status of J&K back again.
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