Neeraj BaliChandigarh, July 14 -- Just shouting slogans against the ruling establishment or taking part in a chaotic protest does not make someone a traitor, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled. The court made it clear that while violent demonstrations can be prosecuted as rioting or vandalism, they cannot simply be branded as sedition to lock people up.
The ruling came as a division bench of Justices Vinod S Bhardwaj and Sukhvinder Kaur threw out an appeal by the Haryana government. The state had challenged the acquittal of four men accused of arson and violence in Kaithal's Kalayat area back in August 2017, when widespread clashes broke out following the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
The judges ob...