Centre Defends Sedition Law, Says Past Judgment By Supreme Court Binding

The Centre today defended the sedition law and asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the pleas challenging it. The court is hearing a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the colonial-era law.

In a written submission, the Centre told the three-judge bench, led by Chief Justice NV Ramana, that the verdict in the Kedarnath Singh vs State of Bihar upholding sedition law is binding. It also said that a three-judge bench cannot examine the validity of the law. "A constitutional bench has already examined all aspects of Section 124 A (sedition law) in context of fundamental rights like right to equality and right to life," the government said in the Supreme Court.

The pleas challenging the sedition law were filed by five parties including the Editors Guild of India and Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra.

A three-judge special bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli hear the pleas challenging the validity of the sedition law on Tuesday.

Concerned over the enormous misuse of the penal law on sedition, the top court in July last year had asked the Centre why it was not repealing the provision used by the British to silence people like Mahatma Gandhi to suppress the freedom movement.

Agreeing to examine the pleas, the court had said its main concern was the "misuse of law" leading to the rising number of cases.