Sedition Charges Against Kerala Writer For National Anthem Post May Be Dropped: Police

Kozhikode: Sedition charges against Kerala writer Kamal Chavara may be dropped, the police said today, two days after his widely condemned arrest over a Facebook post that was allegedly disrespectful to the national anthem.

Mr Chavara, 40, started a hunger strike last night.

"He was being questioned for a complaint. In my experience sedition case won't stand. To change the section we have to inform the court and that process in on," said police chief Loknath Behera today.

The Malayalam writer and theatre artist was arrested on Sunday by the police in Kozhikode and taken to Kollam. The police said he had been questioned on his controversial post on the national anthem on Facebook.

The outraged writer said there were other motives behind his arrest. "As a writer I have to be truthful to my story and character. My characters could be patriots, traitors, maoists, terrorists, thief... There is some other reason or motive for them to take this action," he said yesterday.

The youth wing of the BJP had earlier filed a police complaint against the writer for allegedly insulting the national anthem in his book in Malayalam.

Last week, 12 people were arrested for not standing up when the national anthem was being played before the screening of a film at the International Film Festival of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Supreme Court ruled on November 30 that cinemas should play the anthem before every screening, and that the audience should stand, drawing accusations of an assault on civil liberties.