Stop misuse of NSA

Invoking National Security Act against cow slaughter or voices of dissent shows how the law is being regularly misused

It is incongruous for a liberal and free democratic country to have laws that fight its own citizens by infringing on their fundamental rights. The regular misuse of the National Security Act (NSA) to target the voices of dissent is a reflection of this incongruity. Irrespective of the party in power, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have earned the dubious record of invoking the NSA with unfailing regularity, accounting for the highest number of people detained under this harsh law. The Allahabad High Court’s recent order, quashing the NSA orders across 32 districts in UP and cancelling preventive detentions of 94 people, highlighted the failure of systemic safeguards and constitutional protections for citizens. Most of the cases were related to cow slaughter and communal incidents — issues that have often been politically weaponised to target members of the minority community in the State. It is apparent that the district magistrates had passed the detention orders in a mechanical manner solely on the basis of police reports. This goes against the spirit of the Supreme Court advice that preventive detention under the NSA must be strictly construed keeping in mind the “delicate balance between social security and citizen freedom” and must meticulously comply with the procedural safeguards. The constitutional courts must be more vigilant and hear pleas against preventive detentions on top priority. Otherwise, a situation could arise where anyone deemed troublesome could end up in jail. The NSA applied against cow slaughter or criticism of serving governments reveals how a law has been totally misused.

In the past, the Congress regime in Madhya Pradesh too had invoked the NSA against those suspected of cow slaughter. The successive governments at the Centre have also been guilty of abuse of preventive detention laws by invoking them against the dissenting voices. It is highly deplorable that a law which provides for a maximum of one year in prison through an executive order without trial or bail is being used against those suspected of cow slaughter. The implications could be dangerous for a country that swears by individual freedom and openness. Similarly, the recent arrest of Assam writer Sikha Sarma on the charge of sedition, for her Facebook comment on security personnel massacred by Maoists in Chhattisgarh, is yet another instance of the State’s highhandedness in dealing with critics. There has been a growing tendency among the governments, irrespective of the party in power, to invoke provisions of sedition law against people for raising certain slogans, staging protests or innocuous posts on social media. Before Independence, this law was used by the British to suppress the freedom movement. Ironically, the same draconian law has become a tool that the country is now using against its own people.

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