Relevance: GS Paper II
Introduction
Rulers everywhere tend to treat trenchant criticism as attempts to excite disaffection and disloyalty. That is perhaps the only reason that Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code, enacted under colonial rule, remains on the statute book.
Misuse of Section 124-A
- There have been repeated instances of its misuse. The Centre and the States have invoked the section against activists, detractors, writers and even cartoonists.
- The Law Commission, for the third time in five decades, is now in the process of revisiting the section.
Should Section-124 A be repealed?
How far is it justified for India to retain an offence introduced by the British to suppress the freedom struggle, when Britain itself abolished it 10 years ago?
Objection against Section-124 A i.e. sedition
The foremost objection to the provision on sedition is that its definition remains too wide. ‘Overbroad’ definitions typically cover both what is innocuous and what is harmful.
What is considered ‘sedition’ under the present law?
- Under the present law, strong criticism against government policies and personalities, slogans voicing disapprobation of leaders and stinging depictions of an unresponsive or insensitive regime are all likely to be treated as ‘seditious’, and not merely those that overtly threaten public order or constitute actual incitement to violence.
- In fact, so mindless have some prosecutions been in recent years that the core principle enunciated by the Supreme Court — that the incitement to violence or tendency to create public disorder are the essential ingredients of the offence — has been forgotten.
Way forward
- As long as sedition is seen as a reasonable restriction on free speech on the ground of preserving public order, it will be difficult to contain its mischief.
- There can only be two ways of undoing the harm it does to citizens’ fundamental rights:
- it can be amended so that there is a much narrower definition of what constitutes sedition,
- but the far better course is to do away with it altogether.
