Not seditious to have different views from government: Supreme Court

New Delhi, Mar 03: The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a plea seeking action against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, Farooq Abdullah for his comments on scrapping of Article 370.

The court said it was not seditious to have views different from the government. A Bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hemant Gupta said, the expression of a view that is different form that of the government cannot be termed seditious. The Bench also asked the petitioners to deposit Rs 50,000 for filing the petition.

The petitioners Rajat Sharma and New Srivastava had taken objections to Abdullah's comments on the Centre's decision to scrap Article 370. The petitioners also sought for the leader's membership of Parliament to be declared null and void. Further the petitioners also sought for sedition charges to be slapped against him.

In a television interview, Abdullah had said that he wished with China's support, Article 370 is restored in Jammu and Kashmir.

"As far as China is concerned, I didn't bring the Chinese president here. Our Prime Minister invited him to Gujarat and even did jhoola sawari with him. The PM even took him to Chennai and had food with him, Abdullah had said.