First introduced in 1870, the primary objective of the sedition law was to deal with “increasing Wahabi activities” in India during those times as they posed a challenge to the British colonial government.
New Delhi, May 31
As journalists continue to be at the receiving end of the archaic law on sedition, the Supreme Court on Monday decided to examine Section 124A of the IPC in the context of free spee
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, L N Rao and S Ravindra Bhat said, “We are of the view that provisions of 124A (sedition) and 153 (promoting enmity between classes) of the IPC require interpretation, particularly on the issue of the rights of press and free speech”.
The Supreme Court has barred the Andhra Pradesh police from taking any coercive action against two news channels and said that criticising a government was not sedition.
The Supreme Court, during the hearing on Centre s vaccine policy on Monday, referred to the visuals aired by TV channels of dead bodies being dumped into a river in Uttar Pradesh as it sarcastically asked if any sedition cases had been filed .