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December 2015

States abusing law – Time to reform colonial-era sedition law to prevent misuse

By Tarunkumar G. Singhal | Raman Jokhakar Chartered Accountants
Reading Time 1 mins
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The Tamil Nadu police arrested the folk singer S. Kovan on charges of sedition. The 52-year old Mr. Kovan had recorded hard-hitting songs pointing a finger at the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J. Jayalalithaa – and her government, of the all India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham or AIADMK – of profiting from the sale of liquor in the state’s chain of alcohol shops under the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation, or TASMAC. There are about 6,800 state-run alcohol shops in Tamil Nadu, and TASMAC earned just under Rs. 24,000 crore a year in 2013-14. Mr. Kovan, an outspoken Dalit rights activist, has sympathised with other hot-button issues before the prohibition movement, but his songs on alcohol attacking Ms. Jayalalithaa have touched a particular nerve, with his supporters saying they have been seen over 400,000 times on You Tube. it is, however, entirely questionable as to whether they constitute sedition.
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