Lawyers appearing for petitioners in the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of sedition law urged the Supreme Court on November 22 to place the case before a seven-judge bench.
It was argued that in 1962, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court upheld the validity of sedition law in Kedarnath Singh's judgment and hence it needs to be placed before a seven-judge if the judgment needs to be reviewed. The Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, while agreeing with the lawyers said that he would pass relevant order.
The apex court has now appointed nodal counsels to compile all the written submissions and case laws to be filed in support of the arguments. The case is likely to come up for hearing now in January.
On September 12, the SC decided to refer a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of sedition to a Constitution bench of at least five judges.
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 concerning 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.
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 freedom fighters, including Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
Between 2015 and 2020, 356 cases of sedition were registered under Section 124A and 548 people were 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 years. The top court had in 1962 upheld the validity of the law while attempting to restrict its scope for misuse.
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