Congress leaders Saifuddin Soz, Ghulam Nabi Azad accused of sedition, hearing tomorrow

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. A sedition complaint has been filed in a Delhi court against senior Congress leader. (File photo)

A complaint has been filed against senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Saifuddin Soz in Delhi’s Patiala House Court for their alleged seditious remark against the Indian Army, PTI has reported. The complaint lodged by Advocate Shashi Bhushan alleges that Azad in a TV interview on June 22 said, “Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir was killing more civilians than terrorists during military operations in the state.”

The advocate who filed the complaint has sought action against the politician for offences under IPC sections 124 (sedition), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 505 (1) (spreading rumour about army/navy/air force official which is likely to cause mutiny), claiming that the alleged statements showed the army as killers of innocent people which was “nothing less than waging war against the country”.

Soz courted controversy with the claim that former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s assessment over a decade ago that Kashmiris will “prefer to be independent” if they are given a chance to “exercise their free will” seems to be “correct even today”. Soz, who was a union minister in the UPA-I government, has argued in his forthcoming book, Kashmir: Glimpses of History and the Story of Struggle, that the Centre should first open dialogue with the Hurriyat Conference before moving to mainstream parties to find a solution to the Kashmir issue.

The matter has been listed for hearing on Saturday before a magisterial court in Delhi.