Just shouting slogans against the ruling establishment or taking part in a chaotic protest does not make someone a traitor, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled. The court made it clear that while violent demonstrations can be prosecuted as rioting or vandalism, they cannot simply be branded as sedition to lock people up.
The ruling came as a division bench of Justice Vinod S. Bhardwaj and Justice Sukhvinder Kaur threw out an appeal by the Haryana government. The state had challenged the acquittal of four men accused of arson and violence in Kaithal’s Kalayat area back in August 2017, when widespread clashes broke out following the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
The judges observed that in a democratic setup, raising voices against state policies is a normal expression of public disagreement and should not be confused with inciting rebellion.
“A violent protest can turn into a riot, but violence alone does not automatically prove an intent to spread hatred or wage war against the state. In a functioning democracy, citizens cannot be slapped with sedition charges just for raising slogans against the establishment,” the bench noted.
The court added that public anger, resentment, or unhappiness with the system must not be treated as treason. Given how severe the legal consequences of sedition are, the bench warned that such serious charges require strict, undeniable proof of an intent to destabilize the state, rather than casual assumptions.
The original case was filed after a mob vandalized and set fire to a local power utility office in Kalayat during the 2017 unrest. A trial court had previously acquitted the four accused because the prosecution could not produce solid evidence to identify them.
Upholding that acquittal, the High Court pointed out that the state’s evidence only showed people shouting slogans, which is a form of dissent and not proof of inciting hatred or violence against the nation.