Sedition law, in a tougher recast

The move by the Assam Police to file a case against two journalists of The Wire is an attack on the freedom of expression and defies the judiciary. The police summoned the journalists, Siddharth Varadarajan and Karan Thapar, in a case registered under Section 152 of the BNS, which relates to sedition. On August 12, the Supreme Court issued orders protecting the journalists from any “coercive action” by the Assam Police. A fresh FIR was filed against them the same day. The summons did not include a copy of the FIR or details of the alleged offence. It is a Kafkaesque situation in which two persons are summoned for questioning and threatened with arrest over crimes they have not been told of, under a law whose validity is uncertain.

On Friday, the Court granted the journalists interim protection from arrest. The cases ostensibly arose from a report published in The Wire, which quoted India’s defence attaché in Indonesia stating in a seminar the loss of IAF fighter jets during Operation Sindoor. That a news report on a seminar has attracted such severe police action is significant. Journalists have the right to report and comment on events of public interest – it is an extension of the citizen’s right to free speech and is the lifeblood of democracy. This right is in danger in the country, with journalists and media organisations under constant pressure to conform and comply with the government. The threat is real – the largest democracy is ranked 151st in the world press freedom index. If the cases against The Wire journalists and similar actions elsewhere in the country are an indication, the ranking is unlikely to see any marked progress.

The use of Section 152 against the journalists is another case of police overreach. It is the IPC’s Section 124A on sedition, only in disguise. In 2022, the Supreme Court had stayed the operation of the sedition clause and directed the government not to file any fresh FIR under its provisions. The government has brought in its place Section 152, a law harsher and wider in scope. Even as a petition against it is being heard by the Court, it is being wielded against journalists. On Thursday, the Assam police invoked Section 152 again, against another journalist who criticised the Central and state governments. The use of the sedition law against journalists is a gross abuse of power. It is for the Supreme Court to ensure that its order on sedition is not violated and circumvented with new variants of old laws.