SC to consider fresh plea against validity of sedition provision

The Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to examine a fresh plea by Mysuru-based Major General S G Vombatkere questioning the constitutional validity of Section 124A (sedition) of IPC with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy asked petitioner's counsel P B Suresh to serve a copy of the petition to the Attorney General.

The court agreed to consider the matter on Thursday, July 15.

A separate bench had already issued notice on a similar plea.

Also Read | SC gives more time to A-G, Centre to reply on plea against Constitutional validity of sedition

On July 12, the top court gave two more weeks to the Centre and the Attorney General to file a reply to the plea, questioning the validity of penal provision of sedition for infringing upon the citizens' right to free speech.

This was a joint petition filed by journalists Kishorechandra Wangkhemcha and Kanhaiya Lal Shukla.

The top court had in the Kedar Nath Singh case (1962) had clarified that only those acts, which involved incitement to violence or violence, constituted a seditious act under Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code.