Supreme Court<\/a> last year in 2021 expressed concern at the frequency with which sedition charges were slapped against print and electronic media for publishing views critical of the government and said it would decide the ambit of the colonial-era provision in the Indian Penal Code keeping in view the media’s right to free speech and expression.<\/p>\n“We are of the view that the ambit and parameters of the provisions of Sections 124A, 153A, and 505 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, would require interpretation, particularly in the context of the right of the electronic and print media to communicate news and information, even those that may be critical of the prevailing regime in any part of the nation,” a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, L N Rao and SR Bhat said.<\/p>\n
Colonial Era Sedition Law Continued to be Misused Politically after 75 years of Independence.<\/h3>\n
The provision for sedition laws has been under severe public scrutiny recently for its alleged misuse to settle political scores by various governments which had led the CJI to ask if the colonial-era law, which was used to persecute freedom fighters, was still needed after 75 years of Independence.<\/p>\n
Worried over the alleged misuse of the penal law on sedition, the top court in July last year had asked the Center why it was not repealing the provision used by the British to silence people like Mahatma Gandhi to suppress the freedom movement.<\/p>\n
Agreeing to examine the pleas filed by the Editors Guild of India and former Major General SG Vombatkere, the apex court had said its main concern was the \u201cmisuse of law” leading to the rising number of cases.<\/p>\n
The sedition law is a non-bailable law that makes any speech or expression that brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in India a criminal offense punishable with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.<\/p>\n
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