Sedition law put on hold

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday put the sedition law on hold and told the Centre and States to refrain from registering new FIRs invoking Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana said that it will be appropriate not to use this provision of law till further re-examination is over.

"All pending cases, appeals and proceedings with respect to charges framed for sedition should be kept in abeyance," the apex court said. It also said that reliefs granted to the accused will continue and fixed July for hearing pleas challenging the validity of the provision. Earlier in the day during the proceedings, the Centre told the Supreme Court that a Superintendent of Police rank officer can be made responsible for monitoring the registration of FIRs for the offence of sedition. Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, also told the court that the registration of FIRs for the offence of sedition cannot be prevented as the provision dealt with a cognisable offence and was upheld by a Constitution bench in 1962.

With regard to the pending sedition cases, the Centre suggested that hearing on bail pleas in such matters may be expedited as the government did not know the gravity of offence in each case and they may have terror or money laundering angles.

"Ultimately, pending cases are before the judicial forum and we need to trust courts," the law officer told the bench which also comprised justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had sought the Centre's stand on keeping the pending sedition cases in abeyance to protect the interests of citizens already booked and not registering fresh cases till the government's re-examination of the colonial-era penal law is over. It wanted response on Wednesday.

The top court also asked the Centre to take a clear stand after it posed the two specific queries and agreed that a re-look of Section 124A of the IPC be left to the government, a day after it had filed an affidavit deciding to reconsider the contentious provision. According to data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 356 cases of sedition -- as defined under Section 124A of IPC -- were registered and 548 persons were arrested between 2015 and 2020.