Sedition cases on govt change disturbing: SC

New Delhi, August 26

Describing the lodging of sedition cases at regime change as a “disturbing trend”, the Supreme Court on Thursday protected from arrest a suspended senior IPS officer facing two criminal cases of sedition and corruption in Chhattisgarh.

“The state of affairs in the country is sad,” a Bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said, while providing relief to Gurjinder Pal Singh, a 1994-batch IPS officer and suspended Director of the Chhattisgarh Police Academy.

“This is a very disturbing trend in the country and the police department is also responsible for this… When a political party is in power, police officials take the side of the particular (ruling) party. When another new party comes to power, the government initiates action against those police officials. This needs to be stopped,” the Bench noted.

Singh, who served as the IG during the BJP rule in the state, has been slapped with the cases by the Congress government. He has challenged a Chhattisgarh High Court order refusing to quash these.

The top court directed the Chhattisgarh Government not to arrest Singh for four weeks in the two cases and issued notice on Singh’s petition. It also directed Singh to cooperate with the agencies in the investigation.

“The gentleman has served as ADGP and was acting as the Director of the Police Academy,” senior counsel Fali S Nariman told the Bench on behalf of the suspended IPS officer.

The CJI had earlier asked the Centre in another case to spell out if sedition law was needed even after 75 years of Independence.