SC Refers Sedition Law Validity Case to Larger Bench

The Supreme Court on Tuesday referred the case regarding the Constitutional validity of sedition law to a larger bench. On August 11, in a landmark move to overhaul colonial-era criminal laws, the Centre had introduced in the Lok Sabha three bills to replace the IPC, CrPC and the Indian Evidence Act, proposing among other things the repeal of sedition law and introducing a new provision with a wider definition of the offence. While hearing these petitions on May 1, the top court had noted the submission of Attorney General R Venkataramani that the government had initiated the process to re-examine section 124A of the IPC. “R Venkataramani, Attorney General for India, states that in pursuance of the order dated May 11, 2022, the government 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,” the apex court had noted in its May 1 order. On May 11 last year, in a path-breaking order, the top court had put on hold the colonial-era penal law on sedition till an “appropriate” government forum re-examined it and directed the Centre and states to not register any fresh FIR invoking the provision.