—Excerpt from Aljazeera, June 21, 2017
Police in central India have arrested 15 Muslim men and charged them with sedition - punishable by life in prison - for celebrating Pakistan's victory over India in the Champions Trophy cricket final.
The men, aged 19 to 35, were arrested in central Madhya
Pradesh state's Burhanpur district after locals complained that they
shouted pro-Pakistan slogans and lit firecrackers after the match ended
on Sunday night.
"We received a complaint from a local Hindu man who accused
them of celebrating after India lost the match," Burhanpur police chief
Raja Ram Parihar told the AFP news agency.
The accused have also been charged with criminal conspiracy,
the officer said, adding the celebrations continued for hours in the
sensitive locality. The village where the incident took place has a 60
percent Muslim population.
The men were presented before a court on Tuesday and sent to jail pending trial.
In India, sedition is an offense which may result in the
surrender of passports, ineligibility for government jobs, and even life
imprisonment.
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