IAS Current affairs - Sedition Law

Sedition Law

 

Context:

  • The Supreme Court has fixed May 5 for final hearing of the petitions challenging the constitutionality of the sedition law and made it clear that it will not brook any delay in the form of requests for adjournment.

 

What is Sedition Law?

  • In India the Sec 124A of the IPC states that “ Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the government established by law in shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.”
  • For far too long, the sedition legislation has been a source of contention. Governments are frequently chastised for using Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to prosecute vociferous critics of their policies.
  • As a result, this Section is viewed as a restriction on people’s freedom of expression, and it falls short of the Constitution’s provisions for justifiable restrictions on freedom of speech in Article 19.
  • Since the colonial British overlords enacted the statute in the 1860s, it has been the subject of heated discussion. Several prominent freedom fighters, including Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, were charged with sedition.

Way Forward:

  • India is the largest democracy of the world and the right to free speech and expression is an essential ingredient of democracy. 
  • The expression or thought that is not in consonance with the policy of the government of the day should not be considered as sedition.

 

Source: THE HINDU.

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