The law of sedition (Section 124A of the IPC) was introduced in 1870 to curb anti-colonial sentiments. Many leaders of the Independence movement, including Mahatma Gandhi, were tried under this draconian Act. Ironically, while the British themselves have abolished the law, present-day India has discovered its many maliciously creative uses. With hardly any convictions, the act has turned out to be an instrument of political oppression.

In the first of a three-part series — exploring how the 147-year-old law has been adapted to deal with acts that are remotely anti-establishment — Firstpost looks through cases of 20 men accused of anti-national activities in the Naxal-affected area of Aurangabad to find out what prompted such serious charges being pressed against them.

'Pakistan is not hell. People there are just like us.' The statement might look innocuous on the face of it, but saying this much led to sedition charges against a famous actor-politician from Karnataka last year. Months before this, the then president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union Kanhaiya Kumar was booked for sedition and jailed (later given a clean chit) on the basis of a video that was proven to be tampered with.