Why In News
The Chief Justice of India, N.V. Ramana, has pointed to its rampant misuse by the police across the country, and reminded the Government that it was a legal provision that the colonial regime had used to suppress the freedom movement.
Sedition Law( Section 124A of The IPC)
Enacted in:- 1860
Introduced in:- 1870
Introduced by :- British Colonial Government
Its says that act of Sedition is to bring hatred or contempt towards the government established by law in India.
Punishment:-
- Imprisonment for life and fine.
- Imprisonment for 3 years and fine.
History of the Section 124A
- Section 124A forms part of chapter VI of the IPC which deals with offences against the state.
- Due to increasing Wahabi activities, and fearing that Muslim preachers would incite religious war in the Indian subcontinent, The British Government Introduced this section under the title" Exciting disaffection".
- The Section 124A was used to suppress activists in Favour of National Independence, including Lokmanya Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi both of whom were found guilty and imprisoned.
- The Section 124A is a hindrance to the Right to free speech.
- Sedition was made a cognizable offence for the first time in history in India during the tenure of Prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1973, That is, arrest without a warrant was now permissible.
- In 1962 the supreme court of India verdicts the section to apply only if there is, say," Incitement to violence" or " overthrowing a democratically elected government through violent means".
