Sedition– equation of government with state
The Law Commision of India has recommended the retention of Section 124A of the IPC. It has also recommended enhanced its punishment from a minimum imprisonment of three years to a minimum of seven.
Sedition– equation of government with state
The Law Commision of India has recommended the retention of Section 124A of the IPC. It has also recommended enhanced its punishment from a minimum imprisonment of three years to a minimum of seven.
The law of sedition finds its roots in colonial India. Section 124A was incorporated in the Indian Penal Code in 1870. The purpose was to suppress the voice of Indians who spoke against the British Raj. The law seeks to punish any speech or writing that brings or tries to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or tries to excite disaffection towards the government of the day.
The definition and application of the law can be understood by two cases during the British period.
The first major case was Queen Empress vs Bal Gangadhar Tilak 1897 in which the Bombay Court found Tilak guilty of sedition for writing a couple of article in Kesari, a Marathi weekly, invoking Shivaji, which was interpreted as exciting disaffection towards the British government. Judge Stratchy explained the law as exciting or an attempt to excite 'bad feelings' towards the government. Later the Privy Council upheld this exposition of the law, where disaffection was interpreted as 'political hatred of the government'.
The second case was Niharendu Dutt Majumdar And Ors. vs Emperor which was decided by the Federal Court. Acquitting the accused Majumdar, the Chief Justice Gwyer explained the law as: "Public disorder or the reasonable anticipation or likelihood of public disorder is thus the gist of the offence".
In independent India, the Kedarnath vs State of Bihar case of 1962 holds importance as it decided the constitutionality of sedition. The Court held it valid for two reasons— one, sedition, though an offense against the government, is against the state because the government is a visible symbol of state; second, Article 19(2) of the Constitution imposes restrictions in the interest of the security of the state, which includes the law on sedition.
Article 12 of the Indian Constitution states that "the State includes the Government and Parliament of India and the Government and the Legislature of each of the States and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India".
The Supreme Court had, in declaring sedition constitutionally valid, held that Section 124A is valid but can be invoked when the words or gestures have a tendency to incite violence.
The Law Commission defines tendency as a slight inclination and suggested that it should be incorporated in Section 124A. The Commission has sought to address two concerns about sedition- its rampant misuse and its relevance in the present day. It has repeated the argument a law's misuse is no ground to withdraw it. Further, it being a colonial-era provision is no ground to discard it either. It has justified the statute by citing various extremist and separatist movements and tendencies in the country as well as the "ever-proliferating role of social media in propagating radicalisation".