In the year 2019, Karnataka saw a 25 % increase in the sedition cases, which have been filed by the police is an increased frequency. However, the investigators could only convict one out of the 30 cases whose trials were on-going last year.
Two people involved in the one resolved case were imprisoned, whereas, nearly 29 suspected people were acquitted due to no concrete evidence submitted in the court of law.
A count of 283 cases on sedition were filed from 2015 to 2019. From them, 56 cases had a court trial, where 55 people were acquitted in 51 cases and nine were sentenced to jail.
Regarding the 2019 records, trials were completed, but the trails were only 13 in 2018, 6 in 2017, 3 in 2016, and 4 in 2015.
Karnataka has observed a steep increase in the cases under sedition from 2 in 2018 to 22 in the previous year. As per the data by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Assam had 17 cases, following that 11 in Jammu and Kashmir, 10 in Uttar Pradesh, following which Karnataka takes the position.
Several activists have raised the demand to repeal Section 124(A) of the Indian Penal Code which is pertaining to sedition. Though the government has stated in absolute clarity that it will not take the step of repealing the law.
