AMN/ STAFF REPORER
In a major ruling the Supreme Court on Wednesday (May 11, 2022) put the sedition law on hold and told the Centre and states to refrain from registering new FIRs invoking Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Supreme Court ordered that the 152-year-old sedition law under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code should be effectively kept in abeyance till the Union Government reconsiders the provision.
In an interim order, the Court urged the Centre and the State governments to refrain from registering any FIRs under the said provision while it was under re-consideration.
A bench comprising the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant, and Justice Hima Kohli held that all pending cases, appeals, and proceedings with respect to charges framed under Section124 A be kept in abeyance. Adjudication with respect to other sections may proceed with no prejudice being caused to the accused, it held.
The Court also held that those already booked under Section 124A IPC and are in jail can approach the concerned courts for bail. It has also been ruled that if any fresh case is registered, appropriate parties are at liberty to approach courts for appropriate relief, and courts are requested to examine the relief sought to take into account the order passed by the court.
These directions will be in force until further orders.
Earlier in the day during the proceedings, the Centre told the Supreme Court that a superintendent of police rank officer can be made responsible for monitoring the registration of FIRs for the offence of sedition.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, also told the court that the registration of FIRs for the offence of sedition cannot be prevented as the provision dealt with a cognisable offence and was upheld by a Constitution bench in 1962.
With regard to pending sedition cases, the Centre suggested that hearing on bail pleas in such matters may be expedited as the government did not know the gravity of offence in each case and they may have terror or money laundering angles.
“Ultimately, pending cases are before the judicial forum and we need to trust courts,” the law officer told the bench which also comprised justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had sought the Centre’s stand on keeping the pending sedition cases in abeyance to protect the interests of citizens already booked and not registering fresh cases till the government’s re-examination of the colonial-era penal law is over. It wanted response on Wednesday.
The top court also asked the Centre to take a clear stand after it posed the two specific queries and agreed that a re-look of Section 124A of the IPC be left to the government, a day after it had filed an affidavit deciding to reconsider the contentious provision.
According to data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 356 cases of sedition — as defined under Section 124A of IPC — were registered and 548 persons were arrested between 2015 and 2020. As many as 12 persons arrested in seven sedition cases have been convicted in this six-year period, the data showed.