New Delhi: Followingn the barrest of Indian Youth Congress chief Uday Bhanu Chib and several ogher workers, the Congress on Thursday expressed “deep concern” over criminal charges levelled against individuals participating in a peaceful political protest, asserting that no evidence of violence, property damage or threat to public safety had emerged and dubbed it as criminalisation of dissent.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here Congress leader and Rajya sabha member Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, “This is criminalisation of dissent.”
“The characterisation of the incident as one involving organised violence, sinister intent, or pre-meditated wrongdoing is not borne out by the factual matrix presently available in the public domain, and raises serious questions of fairness, neutrality, and equal application of law”, he said.
Singhvi asserted that the entire episode was recorded on video and widely circulated across social media and news platforms, contending that the prosecution cannot advance a narrative inconsistent with the contemporaneous video record.
Singhvi further said that copies of the FIR have not yet been supplied to the concerned persons or their legal representatives despite requests.
Singhvi, who is also the member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), party’s highest decision making body, said that upon reviewing the charges, no prima facie case could be found.
While referring to proceedings before the Patiala House Court, Singhvi, who is also a noted lawyer said the court had directed the police to provide copies of the FIR and observed that the “allegations lacked the hallmarks of terrorism”.
He said that the sections invoked are wholly inapplicable, and terms like ‘terrorism’ and ‘anti-national’ are completely misplaced.
Singhvi categorically rejected the characterisation of the protest as involving organised violence or premeditated wrongdoing, calling it a distortion of democratic activity. “Criminal law cannot be invoked merely on the basis of expressive political messaging in a peaceful protest, in the absence of any cognisable offence,” he noted.
Citing constitutional protections and judicial precedent, he referred to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan vs Union of India, which recognised the right to protest as integral to democratic participation and accountability.
The Congress leader also criticised the government, stating that “dissent is a constitutional right and not sedition”.
He said raising concerns over policies affecting farmers, youth and small businesses cannot be equated with criminal conduct.
He maintained that the arrests reflect an attempt to intimidate young voices and suppress scrutiny. “Democracy is not fragile porcelain that cracks at the sound of a slogan,” he remarked, adding that proportionality is a constitutional discipline of power.
Singhvi also said that peaceful or symbolic protest, even if critical of authority, lies within the protected zone of democratic expression, and cautioned against blurring the distinction between dissent and disorder.
“Peaceful or symbolic political protest, even if vocally critical or inconvenient to authority, lies squarely within the protected zone of democratic expression”, Singhvi said, adding, “in a democracy, dissent is not treason. It is duty. Raising the concerns of farmers, youth and small businesses is not rebellion; it is a constitutional right.”
He said that “when government signs agreements that threaten livelihoods and weaken economic sovereignty, opposing it becomes a responsibility, not a violation”.
“The government has completely lost its equilibrium. The more it tries to sensationalise the issue, the more these young individuals are elevated and the cause further gets highlighted”, he added.
