Supreme Court must course-correct from its Kedar Nath Singh ruling

In light of the spate of petitions filed before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code – popularly known as the sedition law – in light of its recent rampant abuse by the government, MD ZEESHAN AHMAD and ZAIN HAIDER make the case for the provision being struck off by the apex court and explain why its Kedar Nath Singh judgment, which prescribes the standards for application of the law, was incorrectly decided.

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THE sedition law is once again under fire. Obviously, for its notoriety for misuse!

This is not for the first time that the sedition law is in the proverbial eye of the storm. The legal history of independent India shows that the sedition law (that is, Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code), owing to its colonial provenance, vague definition, draconian nature of the punishment, and lack of procedural safeguards has been a cause célèbre. Given this, the Law Commission of India, in its 2018 consultation paper on sedition even noted that it is time to re-think or repeal section 124A.

However, ever since the Bharatiya Janta Party-led National Democratic Alliance government came to power in 2014, with its creed of ultra-nationalistic politics, an eerie surge has been witnessed in the number of sedition cases, that too with a low conviction rate. Research by digital webportal Article 14 notes that there has been a 28% increase in cases of sedition filed each year between 2014 and 2020, compared to the yearly average between 2010 and 2014. While the National Crime Records Bureau's data shows that the conviction rates under the sedition charge in the period of 2016-19 is just 3.3 %.