New Delhi: The Supreme Court has agreed to examine the sedition section. The apex court has decided to examine the validity of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code. A three-judge bench of Justices UU Lalit, Indira Banerjee, and KM Joseph issued notices to the Central government seeking its response. The apex court has issued a notice on a petition filed by two journalists challenging the provision terming it as a violation of freedom of speech.
On March 17, the Modi government, which has been accused of filing a case under the Mindless Sedition Act, had indicated in the Rajya Sabha on March 17 that it was willing to reform the Indian Penal Code, including sedition. Replying to a question during question hour in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy had said that the government has constituted an advisory committee to suggest reforms in the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure (CPRC) including the Sedition Act (Section 124-A of the IPC).
The committee has been headed by the Vice-Chancellor of National Law University, Delhi. On the other hand, G Kishan Reddy said that it was the Modi government that started keeping the data on sedition-related cases in the country separately. The earlier government kept them under the cases registered in the IPC.
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