Aakar Patel | Sedition not the only law that should go. There are many more…
2 years, 7 months ago

Aakar Patel | Sedition not the only law that should go. There are many more…

Deccan Chronicle  

The Supreme Court has put a stay on the sedition law, and the Union government has also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants the colonial-era legislation to be phased out. Uttar Pradesh has the National Security Act allowing detention without charge or trial for a year to “prevent a person from acting in any manner prejudicial to the defence of India, the relations of India with foreign powers, or the security of India”, or “from acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the State, or from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order, or from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community”. It allows the state to jail without trial or charge “any bootlegger or drug offender or forest offender or goonda or immoral traffic offender or sand offender or slum-grabber or video pirate… to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order”. It allows for detention without charge or trial of up to 12 months of “any acid attacker or bootlegger or depredator of environment or digital offender or drug offender or gambler or goonda or immoral traffic offender or land-grabber or money launderer or sexual predator or video or audio pirate… to prevent him from acting in any manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order”. It allows for “detention without charge or trial for up to two years to prevent a person from i) smuggling goods, or abetting the smuggling of goods, or engaging in transporting or concealing or keeping smuggled goods, or dealing in, smuggled goods otherwise than by engaging in transporting or concealing or keeping smuggled goods, or harbouring persons engaged in smuggling goods or in abetting the smuggling of goods.” Jammu & Kashmir has three laws, one allowing detention without charge or trial for six months, another for a year and third for two years.

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History of this topic

Human Rights Organisations Condemn Criminal Complaint Against Mohammed Zubair
2 weeks ago

Human Rights Organisations Condemn Criminal Complaint Against Mohammed Zubair

The Quint  

The FIR cites seven different legal provisions, including section 66 of the IT Act and different sections of the BNS, the 2023 reform of India’s penal code, which was passed during British colonial rule. Section 152 states that anyone who “excites or attempts to excite, secession or armed rebellion or subversive activities, or encourages feelings of separatist activities or endangers …

Where anyone can be accused of sedition
1 year, 6 months ago

Where anyone can be accused of sedition

The Hindu  

French author Andre Gide once said, “Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.” This captures the current state of the debate on sedition in India. The 279th Law Commission Report, laying down the grounds for retaining sedition, is starkly symbolic of how “nobody listens.” The Commission has …

Sedition law mustn’t trump basic rights
1 year, 6 months ago

Sedition law mustn’t trump basic rights

Hindustan Times  

Among the slew of colonial-era statutes that survive in India’s criminal law books today, sedition is among the most controversial. In a historic order last year, the Supreme Court hit pause on the provision, ruling that the law was not in sync with the social milieu. Last week, however, the Law Commission recommended that the 153-year-old colonial law be retained, …

Govt. wants to make sedition law more draconian: Congress
1 year, 6 months ago

Govt. wants to make sedition law more draconian: Congress

The Hindu  

Citing the Law Commission’s backing of Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code, pertaining to sedition, the Congress on Friday alleged that the BJP government was planning to make the law more “draconian” and wanted to send a message before the next general election that it would be used against Opposition leaders. The principal Opposition party alleged that the …

Is This the Beginning of the End of Sedition Law in India?
2 years, 7 months ago

Is This the Beginning of the End of Sedition Law in India?

News 18  

Probably, in a first in independent India’s history, a criminal law has been put on hold by the apex court when the central government decided to review its provision. A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana held in its order that “Union of India agrees with the prima facie opinion expressed by this court that the …

Amnesty hails Supreme Court’s decision to suspend sedition law
2 years, 7 months ago

Amnesty hails Supreme Court’s decision to suspend sedition law

The Hindu  

Amnesty International India on Wednesday said the Supreme Court’s decision to suspend the sedition law was a welcome step and that the government should repeal the law. In a statement, the chair of AII’s board, Aakar Patel, said: “We welcome the Supreme Court’s order to suspend the sedition law until the Government of India re-examines the 152-year-old provision. For far …

How various countries have junked sedition law
2 years, 7 months ago

How various countries have junked sedition law

India Today  

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, in a historical decision, put a stay on the 152-year-old sedition law under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code till the Union government reconsiders the provision. Singapore Last year, Singapore, which like India inherited colonial English law, repealed its sedition law 83 years after it was first introduced to curb local opposition to British …

India top court puts colonial-era sedition law on hold for review
2 years, 7 months ago

India top court puts colonial-era sedition law on hold for review

Al Jazeera  

Rights groups and even the Supreme Court have spoken out about rampant misuse of the law against activists, writers and students. India’s Supreme Court has barred the government from using a colonial-era sedition law that critics say is often used to stifle dissent, pending a review. The Law Commission of India and even the Supreme Court have at various times …

Supreme Court seeks interim protection for people charged with sedition
2 years, 7 months ago

Supreme Court seeks interim protection for people charged with sedition

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated a willingness to wait, but not for too long, for the government to “re-examine” the colonial law of sedition. “How long will you take for the ‘reconsideration’ of the law,” Chief Justice Ramana asked. On the issue of protecting people from the misuse of sedition law, Mr. Mehta said those affected could always move …

Explained: India’s ‘colonial’ Sedition law - origins, govt abuse & courts’ take on it
2 years, 7 months ago

Explained: India’s ‘colonial’ Sedition law - origins, govt abuse & courts’ take on it

The Hindu  

Sedition is once again the subject of debate as the Supreme Court Court is hearing pleas challenging it. The apex court had first issued a notice to the Centre in July 2021 about the challenge to the legality of Section 124A Indian Penal Code, which criminalises sedition. Drafted by British historian-politician Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1837, sedition was defined as …

Freedom from sedition
3 years, 4 months ago

Freedom from sedition

The Hindu  

Seventy-four years after Independence, the time has come for us to seriously ask whether the law of sedition in India needs to be reconsidered. However, the fear that the police might arrest you on trumped up charges of sedition if you criticise the government serves as a serious fetter on the fundamental right to free speech and expression. Consequently, though …

Sedition Law Hinders Full Realization Of Free Press: Journalists Patricia Mukhim and Anuradha Bhasin Move Supreme Court Against Section 124A IPC
3 years, 5 months ago

Sedition Law Hinders Full Realization Of Free Press: Journalists Patricia Mukhim and Anuradha Bhasin Move Supreme Court Against Section 124A IPC

Live Law  

Another petition has been filed before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the offence of sedition as codified in Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code. The petition has been filed by two women journalists, Patricia Mukhim and Anuradha Bhasin, claiming that the use of sedition offence to intimidate, silence and punish journalists, has continued unrestrained and the …

Why do you need the ‘colonial law’ of sedition after 75 years of Independence, CJI asks govt.
3 years, 5 months ago

Why do you need the ‘colonial law’ of sedition after 75 years of Independence, CJI asks govt.

The Hindu  

Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, in what may be an unprecedented judicial criticism of the way the sedition law is used by the government to crush liberties, asked why a colonial law used against Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak continued to survive in the law book after 75 years of Independence. Is this law necessary after 75 years …

Colonial legacy of sedition law cannot be overlooked: NIA court
3 years, 5 months ago

Colonial legacy of sedition law cannot be overlooked: NIA court

The Hindu  

A special court of the National Investigation Agency has said the colonial legacy of the sedition law cannot be overlooked while hoping that activist-MLA Akhil Gogoi’s case based on insufficient evidence would be an exception for the investigation agency that the country expects to set high standards. “This is to ensure that while enforcing this penal law by police and …

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