The colonial era sedition law is fast becoming a major threat to political and personal freedom in India. Section 124A IPC punishes words or actions that attempt to incite hatred, contempt and disaffection towards governments with three years to life imprisonment.
The interpretation of the sedition law is so arbitrary and sweeping that even legitimate criticism or dissent can earn you a seditionist's badge.
The Supreme Court has itself questioned the government whether this law is still needed 75 years after independence. Drawing an analogy the learned judicial bench has said that the enormous and subjectively interpreted power of this section can be compared to a carpenter being given a saw to make an item but he uses it to cut the entire forest instead of a single tree.
The concern here is the misuse of the law and no accountability on part of the executive. The British used this statute to suppress freedom fighters pre-independence and incarcerate them for long periods of time.
The US too has a sedition clause but it specifically mentions 'use of force' and ' violation of law' instead of vague, sweeping terms like 'disaffection' and 'contempt'.
The sedition provision in the IPC makes it a most handy tool to inflict harassment against anyone the government deems fit, including cartoonists, writers, politicos and even ordinary citizens.
The growing trend of private complaints of sedition whereby any motivated individual can lodge a sedition complaint and make life hell for others is a most disturbing trend. The SC should take note of this and bulldoze this statute out of the IPC.
