Police detained writer and theatre activist Kamal C Chavara and charged him with sedition for insulting the national anthem in a Facebook post on Sunday.
Chavara's post was in response to the administrative crackdown on film buffs at the recent International film festival of Kerala for refusing to stand up during a rendition of the national anthem.
Rediff
Chavara has been charged under section 124 A of the IPC, while those held in Thiruvananthapuram earlier were booked under the less stringent charges.?
Human rights activists slammed the arrest as a serious violation of civil liberties.
This is what he posted on Facebook, roughly translated as this:
"A school in Kerala. The 44 students there were named after the 44 rivers of Kerala, which have all dried up. The teachers of that school never used to heed requests of the children, including permission to go to the toilet to urinate. At 4 pm every day, these students had to stand up for the national anthem. Since urinating was more important for me than `Jana Gana Mana', I preferred to be an indisciplined (sic) student."
(ALSO READ:?11 People Arrested For Not Standing During National Anthem At Kerala Film Festival)
Cops took Chavara into custody following a directive from Kollam police, which itself followed a complaint filed by Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of BJP.
The police also raided his house and threatened his parents.?