I don’t know if many of you have had a chance to see the latest press release by the Home Ministry on Maoist situation. It was sent to me by Prathmesh.
“It has come to the notice of the Government that some Maoist leaders have been directly contacting certain NGOs/intellectuals to propagate their ideology and persuade them to take steps as would provide support to the CPI (Maoist) ideology. It is brought to the notice of the general public that under Section 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, any person who commits the offence of supporting such a terrorist organization with inter alia intention to further the activities of such terrorist organizations would be liable to be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or with fine or with both. General public are informed to be extremely vigilant of the propaganda of CPI (Maoist) and not unwittingly become a victim of such propaganda.” (excerpt)
Is that a threat ? Criminal Intimidation ? The language of Section 39 of the UAPA, 1967 suggests that what is punishable is aiding and abetting a terrorist or terrorist organization. While the tenor of the press release seems to suggest that anybody who propagates the ideology itself may be charged. If such be the attitude, I can already imagine someone being charged merely because he was a fan of Marx or Lenin.
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