No Amnesty India employee shouted any slogan at any point, said Amnesty about the sedition charge against it for an event held in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Police on Monday filed a sedition case against Amnesty International's India chapter in connection with the alleged raising of anti-India slogans during a debate on Kashmir.
The debate, held on Saturday, had turned chaotic after some members from Kashmir -- most of whom were students -- entered into a heated argument with a Kashmiri Pandit leader. A former journalist, RK Mattoo had said, "The Army is present everywhere in the North-East, Kashmir, and other sundry places. I can tell you proudly that the Indian Army is one of the disciplined armies in the world."
The "pro-freedom" Kashmiris vehemently objected, leading to a heated exchange and slogan shouting. The policemen posted at the event eventually managed to pacify the warring groups.
In the statement released on the Amnesty India website, the FIR reportedly mentions a number of offences including ‘sedition’, ‘unlawful assembly’, ‘rioting’ and ‘promoting enmity’. The organisation has not yet received a copy of the FIR.
“Merely organising an event to defend constitutional values is now being branded ‘anti-India’ and criminalized,” said Amnesty International India executive director Aakar Patel.
“The police were invited and present at the event. The filing of a complaint against us now, and the registration of a case of sedition, shows a lack of belief in fundamental rights and freedoms in India,” he added.
Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara had said the intention and background of those involved will be investigated. Activists of ABVP, BJP's student wing, who staged a protest against the event, calling it "anti-national", filed a complaint with the police, submitting a video recording of the event.
Amnesty India said it had organised the event as part of a campaign to seek justice for "victims of human rights violations" in Jammu and Kashmir.
The statement also read: The Bengaluru Police were informed about the event well in advance. Amnesty International India also invited representation from the Kashmiri Pandit community in Bengaluru at the event to speak about the human rights violations faced by members of the community.
Towards the end of the event, some of those who attended raised slogans, some of which referred to calls for ‘Azaadi’.
Amnesty said as a matter of policy, it does not take any position in favour or against demands for self-determination. It, however, added that "it considers the right to freedom of expression under international human rights law protects the right to peacefully advocate political solutions that do not involve incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence."
A wider debate on the ambit of the sedition law had disrupted the Parliament earlier this year after JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar among others were arrested from campus for sedition.
To opposition demands in Rajya Sabha of scrapping the 'relic' law, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said that an all-party meet will be scheduled to discuss following a report by the Law Commission.
