Mumbai: Under attack from opposition and activists, the Maharashtra government has withdrawn its controversial circular on sedition law, which was seen as an instrument aimed at ‘stifling’ criticism and dissent.
Two months after the Devendra Fadnavis government issued the circular on August 27, it informed the Bombay HC on Tuesday that it has been withdrawn. State’s Advocate General Srihari Aney told a division bench of the court comprising V.M. Kanade and Shalini Joshi that it stood withdrawn following a meeting chaired by Fadnavis.
The circular contained guidelines to police with regard to invocation of IPC Section (124-A). It said sedition clause can be invoked against “whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representation, is critical of politicians, representatives belonging to the government.”
