Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday said the sedition law should not be invoked in cases related to social media posts and defamation, reiterating the need to scrap the draconian provision.

Baghel, who ordered the immediate release of a man arrested by Chattisgarh police for posting a critical message on the state’s pitiable power situation, said in Delhi on Saturday: “People have the right to express themselves. We support that freedom. We had promised in our manifesto to repeal the sedition law. Arresting people for criticism is the practice of other governments. I welcome constructive criticism.”

Baghel added: “There are other laws to deal with persons who spread rumours and create mischief. People who spread baseless rumours can be dealt with under those legal provisions. Sedition case should not be filed. But I appeal to the people to avoid making undignified comments and spreading false propaganda.”

Mangilal Agrawal, a resident of Dongargarh in Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh, was arrested after he made an unsubstantiated allegation in a Facebook post. Agrawal accused the Baghel government of resorting to unscheduled power cuts in the state to benefit electrical equipment manufacturing companies.

But the arrest caused huge embarrassment to the Congress leadership, which has always accused the BJP and the Narendra Modi government of trying to suppress freedom of expression by invoking the sedition law.

The central leadership has now firmly conveyed that such controversies should not recur. Congress governments have issued instructions to their police to avoid slapping sedition charges on flimsy grounds.