Even as the Narendra Modi government begins celebrations for its second anniversary on May 26, a report released by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday accused the government for silencing dissent by routinely using 'draconian' laws such as the sedition provisions of the penal code, the criminal defamation law, and laws dealing with hate speech to silence dissent.

Attacking the central government, the report stated that the Modi government has time and again used these laws to crush dissent like previous governments, instead of addressing them, contradicting the prime minister's stand on the freedom of speech.

As per the 108-page report, titled 'Stifling Dissent -- The Criminalisation of Peaceful Expression in India', these 'vaguely worded' and 'prone to misuse' laws have been repeatedly used for political purposes against critics at the national and state level and that the sedition law, which has been used by successive governments to arrest and silence critics, is the most abused law.

Calling on the government to repeal or amend such laws – now used to criminalise peaceful expression – to bring them in line with international law and India's treaty commitments, the report said that even though the Indian Constitution protects the right to freedom of speech and expression, recent and colonial-era laws, such as sedition and criminal defamation, they are frequently used to 'silence and harass' critics.