New Delhi: Days after it defended the sedition law, the central government made a U-turn on Monday and told the Supreme Court that it is ready to reconsider the validity of Section 124A of the IPC and the court may not invest its time in examining and wait for the exercise of centre.
The climb down comes barely 48 hours after Centre on Saturday defended the law while requesting the apex court to dismiss the pleas challenging it. On that day, the Centre told the three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice NV Ramana, that the verdict in the 1962 Kedarnath Singh vs State of Bihar did not require any consideration.
"I state and submit that so far as Section 124A is concerned, there are divergence of views expressed in public domain by various jurists, academicians, intellectuals and citizens in general. While they agree about the need for statutory provisions to deal with serious offences of divisive nature affecting the very sovereignty and integrity of the country, acts leading to the destabilizing the government established by law by means not authorised by law or prohibited by law. Requiring the penal provision for such provisions is generally accepted by everyone in legitimate state interest. However concerns are raised about its application and abuse for the purposes not intended by law," read the affidavit filed by additional secretary to the GOI, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan.
"The Hon'ble PM believes that at a time when our nation is marking 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' (75 years of independence), we need to, as a nation, work even harder to shed colonial baggage that has passed its utility, which includes outdated colonial laws and practices," read the affidavit.
The Centre said it has already scrapped 1500 outdated laws, ended over 25,000 compliances causing "unnecessary hurdles and mindless hindrances to the people and this is an ongoing process". It has said that the laws which "reeked of colonial mindset have no place in today's India".
The Centre's response has surprised all and sundry as only on Saturday, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta had strongly backed the law while submitting that "isolated instances" of misuse cannot be a ground to uproot the precedent that has withstood the test of time for over six decades.
Section 124A says a person commits the crime of sedition, if he/she brings or attempts to bring in hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the government established by law in India. It can be by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise. It prescribes the maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
Also read: Centre defends sedition law in Supreme Court, says 1962 judgment binding
