Withdraw sedition case against Yechury, others: CPI-M

New Delhi, Feb 29 (IANS) The CPI-M on Monday condemned the registration of a sedition case against its general secretary Sitaram Yechury and others in Hyderabad.

"The FIR has been lodged by the police ostensibly because these leaders had extended support to the students of JNU who are protesting against the arrest (in a) sedition case of leaders of the students union and other student organisations," it said in a statement.

"The manner in which the sedition clause is being used in this case
underlines the necessity to scrap the sedition clause 124A in the Indian
Penal Code," the Communist Party of India-Marxist said.

"The CPI-M demands the withdrawal of the cases against the opposition leaders and all others named in the FIR."

The statement urged the central government to desist from actions which
suppress democratic rights and freedoms in the country by branding dissent
and opposition as "anti-national".

On Sunday, a FIR charging Congress vice president Raul Gandhi, Yechury, Delhi Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal and others with sedition was registered at a police station in Hyderabad.

On the direction of a city court, the Saroornagar police station registered the FIR against JNU Students Union president Kanahiya Kumar and the leaders of the Congress, CPI-M and AAP.

Communist Party of India leader D. Raja, Congress leaders Ajay Maken and Anand Sharma and Janata Dal-United leader K.C. Tyagi have also been named in the FIR.

The case has been registered under section 124 A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

Police took the action after a metropolitan magistrate issued the orders on a petition filed by a lawyer requesting the court to forward his complaint to the police station.

Petitioner Janardhan Goud told the court that though he approached the police station on February 14 to register the case, police declined to do so.

The lawyer alleged that Gandhi and the other leaders committed sedition by visiting the JNU to support the students who he said had raised anti-India slogans.

Police said they will seek legal opinion before taking further action in the case.