CPM MP to introduce Pvt Member Bill to repeal sedition clause from IPC

CPI(M) floor leader in Rajya Sabha Elamaram Kareem is likely to introduce a private members bill seeking repealing of provisions related to sedition from the Indian Penal Code, saying that it is "completely untenable" with the country's "democratic structure" as it is "often used to tackle" political opponents.

The Bill said the point of the law of sedition is to suppress free speech and free thought, both of which are "unpopular with the government".

"The sedition provision is completely untenable with our democratic structure. It is often used to tackle political opponents," Indian Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2021, which is listed for introduction in Rajya Sabha on Friday, said.

The private member's bill comes against the backdrop of the Supreme Court last month saying that it was prima facie convinced that sedition is being misused to trample upon citizens' fundamental rights of free speech and liberty and it may have passed its time.

An analysis of official statistics showed that police across the country are rushing to file more sedition cases — 2019 witnessed a 25 per cent compared to 2018 — but investigators could manage to get a conviction in just one out of the 30 cases whose trials were completed in 2019.

Read | UAPA, sedition law misused to stifle dissent, needed to be repealed, say former SC judges

Seeking the repeal of Section 124A, Kareem's Bill said the section was a "draconian measure" introduced in pre-Independence India by the British to counter anti-colonial sentiments.

According to the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill, the law of sedition was used against Independence movement leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Quoting Gandhi, it said, Section 124A was the "prince among the political sections of the IPC designed to suppress the liberty of the citizen".

When the Constituent Assembly discussed the scope and extent of restrictions to be placed on free speech, the Bill said, the prominent exclusion from what eventually became Article 19(2) was the word sedition. The original draft had the word sedition as one of the grounds for restriction on speech.

"The point of the sedition law is essentially that of suppressing free speech and free thought, both of which are unpopular with the government. Where a critic can be silenced by the mere fact that there is a possible life sentence that itself acts as a deterrent," it said.

The Bill said the law enforcement system has continued to "ignore" the "relatively high standards" laid down by the Supreme Court of what actually constitutes sedition.

"Freedom of speech and expression within the Indian legal tradition includes within its ambit any form of criticism, dissent and protest. Sedition was a provision in the law enacted by the British for those who 'rebelled against the Crown'. There is no concept of Crown in our country today," it said.