SC terms filing of sedition cases as disturbing trend

Filing of sedition cases when regimes change is a 'disturbing trend', the Supreme Court said on Thursday while granting protection from arrest to the suspended Director of Chhattisgarh Police Academy against whom two criminal cases of sedition and amassing of disproportionate assets have been filed by the state government.

"State of affairs in the country is sad," said a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana.

Gurjinder Pal Singh, the 1994-batch Indian Police Service officer who had served as the Inspector General of Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur during the earlier Bharatiya Janata Party rule, was initially booked in the disproportionate assets case following raids at his premises by state's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

Another case of sedition was invoked against him later on the grounds of his alleged involvement in promoting enmity and hatching a conspiracy against government.

The bench expressed displeasure over the trend of filing of sedition cases just after senior advocate F S Nariman made opening submissions on behalf of Singh, saying 'the gentleman has served as the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) and was acting as the Director of the Police Academy and now the proceedings under section 124A (sedition) of the IPC have been initiated against him'.

The bench, which also comprised Justice Surya Kant, directed the Congress-led state government not to arrest Singh for four weeks in either of the cases.

It also directed Singh to cooperate with the agencies in the investigation.

"This is a very disturbing trend in the country and the police department is also responsible for this... When a political party is in power, police officials take the side of the particular (ruling) party.

"Then when another new party comes into power, the government initiates action against the police officials. This needs to be stopped," the bench said.

The top court issued the notice on two separate pleas of Singh to the state government, represented by senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Rakesh Dwivedi and lawyer Sumeer Sodhi.

At the outset, Nariman said the issue of custodial interrogation of the police officer does not arise as the charge sheet has already been filed.

The officer was once called by the present Chief Minister and asked to help in taking action against the former Chief Minister, he said.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the state government, opposed Singh's plea saying that he had been the head of the police academy in the state and 'look at his conduct, he has been absconding'.

"No relief such as protection from arrest should be granted to him," Rohatgi argued.

"We will consider the sedition case. This is a very disturbing trend and the police department itself is responsible for this... Do not say this that your client (Singh) was fair, your client must have acted as per the directions of the government of the day...," the bench observed.

Dwivedi also opposed granting any relief to the suspended police officer saying that the probe agency has found disproportionate assets 'nine times more than the known sources of his income'.

Senior lawyer Vikas Singh, representing the suspended police officer in the assets case, sought protection against any possibility of the arrest.

Recently, the Chhattisgarh high court has refused to quash the sedition case against the officer who moved the top court against the order.

Earlier, the Chhattisgarh government had moved the top court by filing caveats in the matter seeking hearing if any order is passed on his plea.

According to the police, the documents recovered during the ACB/EOW raids revealed that Singh was allegedly involved in promoting enmity and hatching a conspiracy against the established government and public representatives and was booked under sedition charges.

Singh was booked under IPC sections 124-A (sedition) and 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) of the IPC at Raipur's City Kotwali Police Station.

He has sought the case be handed over to the CBI or other independent agencies to ensure a fair probe.

The director of the state police academy was suspended on July 5 after the ACB/EOW, on June 29, registered an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act in connection with the disproportionate assets he had allegedly amassed.

The ACB/EOW, which carried a three-day search at around 15 locations linked to Singh from July 1 to 3, claimed to have discovered movable and immovable assets worth around Rs 10 crore.

During the raid at the official residence of Singh, torn pieces of paper were also found from the backyard of the house. When the pieces were rearranged, serious and sensitive contents were found to be written and typed on it, the FIR said.

'These papers contained objectionable comments against leaders of reputed political parties along with detailed plans of conspiracy. Besides, secret assessments related to representatives and candidates of different assembly constituencies along with comments on serious issues of the concerned area were also written on it. The papers also contained critical comments on several government schemes, policies, social and religious issues,' it said.

Similarly, the raid at Singh's associate Mani Bhushan's house unearthed a five-page document, in which comments were written in English against public representatives, officials, government schemes and policies, it added.

The seized documents contain provocative content that can promote hatred and dissatisfaction against the government, the FIR said.