The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for September 12 on a bunch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the colonial-era provision of sedition under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
These pleas were initially presented before the apex court on May 1, at which point the court deferred the hearing following the Centre’s statement that it was in an advanced stage of consultation regarding the re-examination of the penal provision.
On August 11, in a groundbreaking move aimed at overhauling colonial-era criminal laws, the Centre introduced three bills in the Lok Sabha to replace the IPC, CrPC, and the Indian Evidence Act. These bills proposed, among other things, the repeal of the sedition law and the introduction of a new provision with a broader definition of the offense.
According to the cause list for September 12 posted on the apex court’s website, the pleas challenging the validity of section 124A (sedition) of the IPC will be heard before a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
During the hearing of these petitions on May 1, the top court acknowledged the submission of Attorney General R Venkataramani, who stated that the government had initiated the process of re-examining section 124A of the IPC.
“In pursuance of the order dated May 11, 2022,” the apex court noted in its May 1 order, “the government, through Attorney General for India R Venkataramani, states that it has initiated the process of re-examining the provisions of section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and consultations are at a substantially advanced stage.”
On May 11 of the previous year, in a groundbreaking order, the top court suspended the colonial-era penal law on sedition until an “appropriate” government forum re-examined it. The court directed the Centre and states to refrain from registering any new FIRs invoking the provision. Furthermore, all proceedings under the sedition law throughout the country, including the lodging of FIRs, ongoing investigations, pending trials, were also placed in abeyance, as per the top court’s directive.
The sedition law, which prescribes a maximum life imprisonment term under section 124A of the IPC for the offense of creating “disaffection towards the government,” was incorporated into the penal code in 1890, a full 57 years before India gained independence and nearly 30 years after the IPC was enacted.
