The Supreme Court will hear several petitions opposing the colonial-era penal statute on Wednesday, nearly seven months after it was put on hold. At that time, the Centre is anticipated to inform the court of any advancements made while reconsidering the clause.
The top court issued a ground-breaking ruling on May 11 of last year, ordering the Centre and the states to refrain from filing any new FIRs citing the crime of sedition until it was given another “appropriate” government forum to review it.
At least 12 petitions, including the one brought by the Editors Guild of India against the bill, have been scheduled for hearing by a bench consisting of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha.
The Indian Penal Code’s Section 124A, which stipulates a maximum prison sentence of life for inciting “disaffection towards the government,” was introduced in 1890, 57 years before India’s independence and nearly 30 years after the IPC was first created.
The clause was applied against pre-Independence independence activists like Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi.
In addition to prohibiting the filing of new FIRs, the bench presided over by the former CJI N.V. Ramana ordered that all investigations, trials, and other proceedings related to the sedition statute be suspended.
The bench had allowed reconsideration of the clause after declaring that the “rigors of Section 124A (sedition) of the IPC are not in sync with the current social milieu.”
“We anticipate that it will be appropriate not to continue the use of the aforementioned legal provision by the Governments until the re-examination of the clause is complete,” it stated.
Any impacted party is free to approach the relevant courts, which are asked to review the proposed relief while taking into account the current ruling, the highest court had stated.
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“With reference to the above, it is unambiguous that the Union of India agrees with the preliminary opinion expressed by this Court,” the bench had stated after taking note of the Center’s position. The Union of India may review the aforementioned legal provision in light of this.
“All pending trials, appeals, and other actions involving the charge brought up under Section 124A of the IPC be suspended. If the Courts believe there would be no detriment to the accused, adjudication with regard to other Sections, if any, could move on, it stated.
The aggrieved parties are free to handle the courts for the proper remedies if a new action is filed, and the courts are urged to consider the relief requests in light of the current ruling as well as the Centre’s unequivocal stance.
The bench had rejected the Centre’s plea that an individual with the rank of superintendent of police is tasked with overseeing the filing of FIRs for the alleged offense of sedition.
According to information gathered by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 356 cases of sedition, as defined by Section 124A of the IPC, were reported between 2015 and 2020, and 548 persons were detained. However, in the six-year span, just 12 persons who were detained in seven sedition trials were found guilty.
In 1962, the Supreme Court maintained the law’s legality while aiming to limit the potential for abuse.
Section 124A (sedition) of the IPC states that anyone who incites hatred, contempt, or disaffection towards the government established by law in [India] through words, either spoken or written, or through signs, visible representation, or other means shall be punished with either life imprisonment, to which fine may be added, or imprisonment that may expand to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.
Freedom fighter Tilak was allegedly on trial for sedition in 1898, during one of the earliest cases ever documented.
