In fresh guidelines to police, the Maharashtra government has asked it to rule out any ambiguity during invocation of IPC section pertaining to sedition and not to invoke it against those trying to bring change in government through legal means without hatred and contempt.

The guidelines on IPC 124-A have been issued with regard to the assurance given to the Bombay High Court in the cartoonist Aseem Trivedi case. The assurance was given in the HC while sedition charges were dropped against Trivedi, who was arrested by Mumbai Police in 2012 for drawing cartoons that allegedly insulted the national emblem and Parliament.