Law Commission on Sedition Law: The Law Commission has submitted its report on the sedition law to the Central Government on Thursday (June 1). The report states that section 124A of the IPC, which deals with sedition, should be retained with some safeguards to prevent its misuse. However, some amendments can be made for greater clarity regarding the use of the provision, the report said.
According to the news agency PTI, in its report submitted to the government, the panel said that taking cognizance of the views on the misuse of Section 124A, it recommends that guidelines be issued by the Center to prevent them. In his covering letter to Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, 22nd Law Commission Chairman Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi (retd) has also given some suggestions.
Law commission gave suggestions
It said that in the absence of a provision like Section 124A of the IPC, any expression of violence against the government would certainly be prosecuted under special laws and anti-terror laws, which have far more stringent provisions to deal with the accused. . The report further said that repealing IPC section 124A only on the basis that some countries have done so is not right as doing so would be like turning a blind eye to the ground reality in India.
What else was said in the report?
It was told in the report that its cancellation can affect the integrity and security of the country. It is often said that the crime of sedition is a colonial legacy based on the era (the British era) in which it was enacted. This is especially true given the history of its use against India’s freedom fighters, but the entire structure of the Indian legal system is a colonial legacy.
Proposal can be presented in monsoon session
The central government is preparing to amend the sedition law. Regarding this, a proposal can also be brought in the monsoon session of the Parliament. The Center had given information about this in the Supreme Court on May 1 as well. The government says that the process of review of 124A is in the last stage. It can be introduced in the monsoon session and the government is going to come up with a proposal to change it. Let us tell you that the Supreme Court was hearing the petitions challenging the validity of the law.
The Supreme Court had suspended the law
Significantly, the Supreme Court had suspended the sedition law in the month of May last year. Then the court had asked the state governments not to continue the investigation in all the pending proceedings under this provision until the investigation regarding this law is completed by the central government. Status quo should be maintained on the pending cases.
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