Consultations on re-examining sedition law at advanced stage, government tells SC

The Supreme Court will next hear the case in August.

The government on May 1 told the Supreme Court that the consultations on re-examining the colonial-era sedition law were in an advanced stage and requested the hearing be put off till the process was completed.

The hearing was adjourned to August 2023 after Attorney General of India R Venkatramani said the government would intimate the court on the outcome of the consultation before it reaches Parliament.

The apex court in May 2022 put the law on hold and ordered the Centre and states not to register any sedition case under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which, it said, was not in tune with the social milieu. It permitted reconsideration of the provision.

All pending trials, appeals and proceedings with respect to the charge framed under Section 124A were to be kept in abeyance. Adjudication, if any, could proceed if courts were convinced that no prejudice would be caused to the accused, the court had said.

If a fresh case was registered, the affected could approach courts for relief, it said. The bench had turned down the Centre's suggestion that a superintendent of police rank officer be made responsible for monitoring the registration of FIRs for sedition.

The law provides for a maximum life term under Section 124A for creating "disaffection towards the government". It was added to the penal code in 1890, 57 years before Independence and almost 30 years after the IPC came into being.

In the pre-Independence era, the provision was used against several freedom fighters, including Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Between 2015 and 2020, 356 cases of sedition – under Section 124A --were registered and 548 people arrested, data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show. However, only 12 people arrested in seven sedition cases were convicted in the six-year period.

The top court had in 1962 upheld the validity of the law while attempting to restrict its scope for misuse.

"Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in [India], shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine, reads section 124A (sedition) of the IPC,” it said.