NEW DELHI: A lawyers body has called for repeal of the colonial-era sedition law, citing fallouts of incidents like the suicide of a Dalit PhD scholar at Hyderabad Central University and violence at Patiala House court complex.
A convention in defence of democratic rights was held by Lawyers for Democracy and Social Justice which passed a resolution demanding repeal of the sedition law, autonomy of universities, administration of justice and adherence to the constitutional idea.
"This lawyers convention takes serious note of incidents at the Hyderabad Central University in which a Dalit scholar committed suicide abetted by the unbearable allegation of being anti-national and bizarre incidents of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in which entire university was dubbed as a den of anti-nationals.... "The students who oppose policies of the government are dubbed as anti-national and booked under the archaic colonial law of sedition. This brazen attempt to muzzle dissent is reminiscent of British rule," the resolution alleged.