On the night of June 18, the Madhya Pradesh police swooped into the Burhanpur district, about 600 kilometres from Bhopal and took into custody 15 people, two of them minors. Their crime: They celebrated Pakistan's victory over the Indian team in the Champions Trophy. The police charged them with sedition, and a court sent them to jail for 14 days and denied them bail. Six others faced the same fate in the state of Karnataka. This is not the first time the draconian sedition law has been used as a tool. Is it time to junk the colonial residue?
