A stand up about freedom

I was at the movies the other day and we got to the part where they played the national anthem. As is decorum, I stood up in respect when it was being played. But even as I was standing, a part of me was thinking – Why am I doing this? Should I stand? Can I not enjoy the freedom to not stand when the national anthem is played?
Turns out, I can’t. With a little bit of internet research, I chanced upon a few articles where quite a few people have been arrested for refusing to stand up when the national anthem was being played. Although, the law only states that you could be charged with sedition if you obstruct the singing of the national anthem in any way, there have been cases filed against people for merely sitting down during the national anthem.
My question is very simple. Why is it that only standing up is considered a sign of respect? The reason, I believe, is because it had been imbibed in us right from our childhood that we should stand up to show our respect. And it is this reason that has us convinced that if we do not stand up, we are not showing respect. But that is so not the case. I strongly feel that merely standing up does is not a show of our respect. Nor is sitting down a mark of disrespect. Someone who is physically unable to stand up can still show his respect by not standing up. That person is paying the same amount of respect as the one next to him who is standing. How then, can one justify the argument about standing up? My argument here is that we are in a democracy, the world’s largest, to be specific, and it is this democracy that has given us this freedom to ask questions, and so I will ask this question. Is it not ironic that something can be forced upon us when we are in a democracy? That’s like going to war to achieve peace. And just to clear the air, the idea is not to be unpatriotic or anti-India. The idea is to have the freedom to reject a commonly held belief. And that I think is the truest essence of our democracy.