Could cheering for another country amount to Sedition

With this entire issue of sedition coming up with Indian Kashmiri students cheering for Pakistan in India v. Pakistan cricket match in the Asia cup series, I have been wondering about the law relating to sedition. Does cheering for another team in any field of life-sports/fashion/conclaves amount to a crime of sedition?

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The functions of National Minorities Commission are mainly recommendatory in nature and not binding. It has no power to punish the violator of human rights, nor to award any relief including monetary relief to the victim. Notably, its recommendations are not binding on the concerned government or authority. But, it should be informed about the action taken on its recommendation within one month. The commission can recommend the state government or the central government or the supreme court to take action in a particular direction or pass an order or writ on a particular issue. He setting up of Minorities Commission was envisaged in the Ministry of Home Affairs Resolution dated 12.01.1978 which specifically mentioned that, “despite the safeguards provided in the Constitution and the laws in force, there persists among the Minorities a feeling of inequality and discrimination. In order to preserve secular traditions and to promote National Integration the Government of India attaches the highest importance to the enforcement of the safeguards provided for the Minorities and is of the firm view that effective institutional arrangements are urgently required for the enforcement and implementation of all the safeguards provided for the Minorities in the Constitution, in the Central and State Laws and in the government policies and administrative schemes enunciated from time to time. Some time in 1984 the Minorities Commission was detached from Ministry of Home Affairs and placed under the newly created Ministry of Welfare.

http://ncm.nic.in/Genesis_of_NCM.html

Answered on October 17, 2016.
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A) Section 124-A in the Indian Penal Code, named ‘Sedition’, explains sedition in wide and magnanimous terms. It says ‘Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the Government established by law in India’ shall be punished with life imprisonment. The explanations which the Indian Penal Code gives are that ‘the expression ‘disaffection’ includes disloyalty and all feelings of hate It also says that comments that express strong disapproval of ‘the measures of the Government, with a view to obtain their desired modifications by lawful means, without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not constitute an offense under this section. ‘In Kedar Nath Singh vs. State of Bihar AIR 1962 SC 955 (969), in 1962, the court noted that “a citizen has a right to say or write whatever he likes about the Government, or its measures, by way of criticism or comment, so long as he does not incite people to violence against the Government established by law or with the intention of creating public disorder”. Everyone has right to express his or her own ideas. That is why the case by the U.P. government was dropped against the students.
Thus, words and speech can be criminalised and punished only in situations where it is being used to incite mobs or crowds to violent action. Mere words and phrases by themselves, no matter how distasteful, do not amount to a criminal offence unless this condition is met.

Answered on October 17, 2016.
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