Let me come straight to the key point. It is high time that the draconian law of sedition which was enacted in colonial days by the Britishers more than 150 years back is amended to meet the present era. More often than not, it has been misused to a great extent but what a supreme irony that this draconian Section whom even Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation treated with open contempt and anger describing it as prince among the political sections of the Indian Penal Code designed to suppress the liberty of the citizen is still continuing unabated.

What is even worse is that our political class has never thought it fit to amend this draconian Section to meet the present circumstances by inserting adequate safeguards to check its gross abuse leave alone abolishing it altogether. I agree that national interest is paramount and no citizen can be above it but that should not be a ground to give a weapon to the police to use this most abused Section against anyone voicing the slightest amount of criticism against the government of the day.

It merits no reiteration that the draconian offence of sedition was actually imported as Section 124A of the IPC from the English law into Indian law in 1870 to perpetuate the British colonial rule and crush the birth right of citizens of India to criticize the British government in any manner which could brew the slightest amount of disaffection against them. This Section was amended in 1891 and explanations were inserted in it.

Sedition signifies nothing but libel (defamation) of the established authority of law, i.e., Government. The purpose of the person indulging in sedition is clear : to arouse hatred, contempt or disaffection by words that may be either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representation or by any other means as spelled out in the definition itself against the Government of India.

Needless to say, this draconian Section should have been repealed immediately after independence or at least suitably amended to check its gross abuse as a potent weapon in the hands of police to harass innocent citizens. But sadly, that has not been done till now even after more than 73 years of independence nor any safeguard inserted and in the name of safeguarding national interest it is continuing unabated and unchanged which is a matter of profound concern.

It is a very sad commentary on the state of affairs prevailing in our country. The noted Left leader Prakash Karat had just recently publicly aired his anger at Section 124A which he feels should have no place in a liberal and democratic country like India. In Balwant Singh v State of Punjab, AIR 1995 SC 1785, the accused persons were alleged to have shouted some seditious slogans on the day Smt Indira Gandhi who was the then PM was assassinated in a crowded place. They shouted the slogan twice but public response was muted as no one paid any heed to it.

It was held by the Supreme Court that mere raising casual slogans once or twice by two individuals, cannot be said to be aimed at exciting or attempting to excite hatred or disaffection towards the Government established by law.

Similarly, In Bilal Ahmed Kaloo v State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1997 SC 3483, the accused was a Kashmiri young man who was arrested by the Hyderabad police on the charges of sedition. He was alleged to be spreading rumours that the Indian army-men were indulging in torture and atrocities against Kashmiri Muslims. He was convicted by the trial Court and his conviction was upheld by the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

The Supreme Court expressed surprise as to how the Courts below had recorded conviction when no evidence of sedition and even the charges framed did not contain the essential ingredients of the offence of sedition. The Court expressed dissatisfaction as to the mechanical manner in which the trial Court passed the order which resulted into unwarranted interference with the liberty of a citizen. Needless to say, this most blatant abuse of Section 124A and other anti-terror laws happening with impunity right under the nose of the Centre must now stop forthwith so that no innocent citizen suffers for no fault of theirs!

To say the least, it should either have no place in a democratic country like India or be suitably amended so that innocents like Binayak Sen and many like him don't have to go to jail without any reasonable cause. Even the Law Commission of India in its 42nd Report made in 1971 strongly recommended to bring down the maximum punishment under Section124-A from life imprisonment as is the case right from 1870 when it was enacted till now to seven years.

However, most unfortunately, even after more than 50 years of the landmark recommendation made by the Law Commission, it is still gathering dust. This is the real rub! It is high time and now Centre must take the requisite steps to ensure that these long delayed historic recommendations are most promptly implemented now!

I very strongly feel that the punishment should not exceed five years at the most. Ideally, it should be a minimum of two years and a maximum of five years. There must be more debate, discussion and deliberation on it without fail.

Also, Section 124-A should be amended to include what was held in the landmark Kedar Nath Singh case. It should be made mandatory that mens rea i.e. the intention to create public disorder or disturb law and order should be present and the Section should be amended to include the words both intend and tend to create public disorder or disturb public peace by inciting to violence.

Let me also reiterate here that the undefined terms like disaffection, contempt, hatred and disapprobation must be clearly defined so that there is less scope for wide discretion which has often been misused. There must be some act committed which disturbs the public peace and not just the threat to public disorder or security should be made an essential ingredient to attract Section 124-A of IPC.

There should be an exception made in favour of a truth of a statement or allegation made. Last but not the least, the sanction in all such cases which pertains to sedition should be obtained in writing from an officer who should not be below the rank of a Joint Commissioner of Police or an Inspector General of Police who too must mention the specific reasons for the same. If all such safety measures are inserted in Section 124-A, then I am sure that the gross abuse of this Section will most certainly be checked and at the same time if anyone poses a threat to the unity and integrity of our great nation will not escape unpunished.

Even if quantum of punishment is not reduced, never mind but at the least some safety clauses can be inserted to check its arbitrary misuse and those police cops who are found to be misusing it must be also mandatorily dismissed from service and a minimum jail term also must be in store for them so that its misuse in future is deterred to a great extent. Needless to say, there were no such safety clauses in Britishers time as they ruled India like slaves but now in a free and liberal democratic country like ours, there must be some checks and balances imposed on such oft abused Sections and laws as they cannot be allowed to punish wrongly its own citizens. One fervently hopes that something concrete is done soon by Centre on this! When Britishers can reform their laws on sedition then why can't we too act on this?

Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate
s/o Col BPS Sirohi, A 82, Defence Enclave,
Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera, Meerut – 250001, UP.