Supreme Court to hear pleas against sedition law from May 5

New Delhi, April 27

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to respond by the end of this week to petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the law on sedition under Section 124A of the IPC.

A Bench led by CJI NV Ramana asked the petitioners, including PUCL (People’s Union for Civil Liberties), to file rejoinders to the Centre’s affidavit by Tuesday and posted the matter for May 5. The Bench gave time to the Centre to file affidavit after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said response was ready and only two days were needed for vetting and filing. Mehta told the Bench that he was representing the Centre and KK Venugopal would be appearing in his capacity as the Attorney General as he had been separately issued notice by the court. The top court made it clear that no adjournments would be granted during the hearing till final disposal.

Centre told to file reply by weekend

• Petitions will be taken up for final disposal without adjournments, says CJI
• The SC has asked the Centre to respond to the challenges by weekend

Peep into past

• The law on sedition was not there in the original IPC that came into force in 1862
• It was added to the Code in 1870 and its ambit was expanded in 1898 to crush the freedom movement
• Last year, the CJI had asked A-G to clarify if this law was still needed after 75 years of Independence

On behalf of petitioners, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Sanjay Parikh said that they would not repeat the submissions. In July last year, the CJI had asked the Attorney General to clarify if this law was still needed after 75 years of Independence. The sedition law was used by the British against Mahatma Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and was now being misused with no accountability from government, he had noted. “The government has repealed a number of laws... I don’t know why you aren’t looking into it,” the CJI had asked.

Section 124A is a non-bailable provision that makes any speech or expression that brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in India a criminal offence punishable with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The law on sedition was not there in the original IPC that came into force in 1862. It was added to the Code in 1870 and its ambit was expanded in 1898 with a view to crush the freedom movement.

The SC had in 1962 upheld the validity of Section 124-A in Kedar Nath Singh versus State of Bihar by reading down the provision.

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