Sedition circular stayed

Justice Kanade of the Bombay High Court has stayed the Maharashtra government's controversial sedition circular which seeks to bring into its purview negative comments against elected representatives. Adv Mihir Desai, who appeared for petitioners (cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, womens' rights activists Sandhya Gokhale, NJ Hasina and anr.) pointed out discrepancies in the Marathi translation of the guidelines mentioned in the court's order in the Aseem Trivedi case. Justice Kanade termed the govt. circular 'scandalous' and said that by this logic, everyone in opposition would go behind bars! The govt. has said it will come forward with a fresh circular. The case comes up next on Oct 20.