Sedition Law on Hold

The Supreme Court on May 11 stayed “until further orders” all pending proceedings under the sedition law across the country overruling the Centre’s objection. The Union Government is said to be working on the idea of re-examining the colonial era law. The Home Ministry claims that they have already scraped 1500 outdated laws and 15000 compliance burdens. But the ground reality tells a different story. They are terrorising people under one pretext or another. As per the Apex Court order “all proceedings should be kept in abeyance”. And those in custody on sedition charges can now move court for bail. The Centre and states are expected not to register fresh FIRs, continue investigations or take coercive measures under Section 124 A, the most punitive clause in the Act.

Even after 75 years of independence Indians have no respite from being haunted by colonial hangover, albeit in the UK the Sedition Law was abolished in 2010. The persons in power are expressing concerns over misuse of sedition law. Shedding crocodile tears makes little sense. It’s an irony that Modi’s men are talking about human rights and civil liberties. The way any voice of dissent, even in social media, is being crushed ruthlessly has no parallel. Sedition figures are not for fun. 356 cases of sedition were registered between 2015 and 2020 while 548 people were arrested and 6 of 548 convicted during the same period. In 2019 alone 93 new cases were filed across the country. Some of the notable faces facing the sedition charges are Arundhati Roy, author and Booker Prize winner for anti- national speeches in a seminar, Siddique Kappan, journalist, arrested on his way to report on the rape incident in Hathras, UP; Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, then JNU students. Besides them there are hundreds of innocent people languishing in jails just for critcising the government policies.

Way back in 1950, the Supreme Court in Romesh Thapar vs State of Madras case held that ‘criticism of the government exciting disaffection or bad feelings towards it, is not to be regarded as a justifying ground for restricting the freedom of expression and of the press unless it is such as to undermine the security or tend to overthrow the state”. But the ruling elites do hardly bother about court orders. Laws are to be exhibited in showcase and ‘orders’ are to be interpreted in various ways in law journals.

The tall talk of reviewing the Sedition Law by the Modi government may not be taken seriously. As part of populism they are playing with the gallery. No doubt the apex court’s May 11 decision is significant as opposition leaders and human rights activists alleged that the so-called review propaganda launched by the saffron camp was aimed at avoiding the Supreme Court case and using the law as it pleases in the meanwhile.

In India democracy is only for a privileged few while most people are victims of coercive laws. These days Congress party is talking loudly about the court order on Sedition Law but they didn’t hesitate to use it when they were in power. All ruling parties irrespective of their colour utilise this British era law to suppress their opponents. Even in Maharashtra the non-BJP government is reportedly applying it against the opposition BJP.

The Supreme Court’s historic order is unlikely to get translated into action unless human rights bodies and civil liberties organisations mobilise masses in their millions demanding the immediate end of this colonial baggage.

In 1860 when Indian Penal Code was promulgated the Section 124A was not incorporated in the same, but in1870, mainly with the purpose of containing the Wahabi movement, the British introduced this Section. And later it was used extensively against freedom fighters. Today the brown sahibs use it indiscriminately against their political adversaries. What is urgently needed is to evaluate the constitutional validity of the Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code and completely repeal the draconian law. Laws like Section 197 of Criminal Procedure Code and Section 229 of Indian Penal Code are equally obnoxious, having little relevance for a functional democracy.

In another case the Court earlier held that not all speeches with “disaffection”, “hatred” or “contempt” against the state can be treated as seditious. Only speech that is likely to incite “ Public disorder” would qualify as sedition. But court orders are for record. The ruling parties in India are grateful to the colonial masters for providing them such a notorious weapon to silence voice of dissent.

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Frontier
Vol 54, No. 48, May 29 - Jun 4, 2022