New Delhi: Calling the British-era sedition law as ‘colonial’, the Supreme Court today asked whether the law was ‘still necessary after 75 years of Independence’. The law poses an important threat to institutions and possesses ‘enormous power’ for misuse with no accountability for the executive, the court stated, comparing it to a ‘saw’ in an overzealous carpenter’s hands.
‘Sedition Law is a colonial law. Do we still need it after 75 years of Independence,’ Chief Justice NV Ramana asked. Despite the government taking down a number of outdated laws, ‘no action has been taken on this law’. The government’s top lawyer, Attorney General KK Venugopal, said the law should be retained with ‘guidelines’.
A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice compared Section 124A to ‘a saw’ used to cut a forest instead of a piece of wood.
The court explained that ‘there is an enormous misuse. It’s like a carpenter who has a saw and uses it to cut down the whole forest.’ That’s the effect of the law, the court explained.
‘If a police officer wants to fix somebody in a village for something, he can apply Section 124 A… People are scared.’
The court said it would examine the validity of the sedition law and asked the Centre to respond to a former army officer’s petition that claims the law chills speech and violates freedom of expression. ‘This is a colonial law… it was used by the British to silence Mahatma Gandhi and suppress the freedom movement. Is this law still relevant in our country after 75 years of independence?’
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The court noted that there are several petitions challenging the sedition law and that all of them will be heard together.
The Chief Justice told Attorney General Venugopal, ‘Our concern is misuse of the law and no accountability at all.’
‘We are not blaming any state or government here, but if you look at how Section 66A of the Information Technology Act is being used, how many unfortunate people have suffered, and there is no accountability…’
Additionally, he said that ‘minimal convictions or very low rates of conviction’ could be found in the history of the Sedition Law.
According to the Attorney General, the law can be preserved if guidelines are laid out so it meets its legal purpose.
Chief Justice replied, ‘If one party doesn’t want to hear the voice of another, it might be used to implicate them and it is a serious question for individuals to consider.’
Tushar Mehta, the solicitor general, told the court, ‘We will submit our response, which would relieve you of some burden.’
The petitioner, Major-General (Retd) SG Vombatkere, argues that the sedition law is totally unconstitutional and should be ‘unequivocally and unambiguously repealed’.
Chief Justice Ramana, AS Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy heard the petition that also claims the law criminalizes expression based on ‘unconstitutionally vague definitions of disaffection towards government’.
In the petition, it is stated that ‘the march of the times and the development of the law’ are needed to be taken into account before addressing Section 124-A.
The Chief Justice said: ‘The petitioner almost sacrificed his life for the country, so it is not a motivated petition.’
Major-General Vombatkere says it is heartening that the court has agreed to hear his petition. ‘Sedition is a legal relic from colonial times. It has been removed from the British statute book and deserves to be repealed for our republic,’ he said.
The Supreme Court had earlier asked the Centre to respond to a petition by two journalists challenging the sedition law. The journalists, Kishorechandra Wangkhemcha of Manipur and Kanhaiya Lal Shukla of Chhattisgarh, complained that the law violates their right to free speech and expression.
In recent years, activists, politicians and journalists have been charged with sedition.
The Supreme Court had said in a different case in March that expressing views that differ from official government positions cannot be termed ‘sedition’. There are several prominent sedition cases involving Lakshadweep filmmaker Aisha Sultana, journalist Siddique Kaapan, who has been jailed in UP for months without trial and climate activist Disha Ravi.
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