NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court’s interim order putting the colonial sedition law on hold will continue to operate as it granted the Centre more time on Monday to reconsider the law. Attorney General R Venkataramani, while seeking additional time, told a bench led by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit that the matter was engaging the attention of relevant authorities.
“There is thinking on the matter and hopefully something might happen in the upcoming winter session of Parliament. There is no reason to worry now with the interim order in place,” Venkataramani submitted. He also drew the court’s attention to the government considering introducing new draft bills for Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in Parliament soon.
Recently, Union home minister Amit Shah had disclosed plans to amend the IPC and CrPC and present them before Parliament. He had said the revamped laws would factor in several suggestions to make them more relevant. The bench then directed the listing of petitions challenging the sedition law in the second week of January.
On May 11, a bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India N V Ramana had suspended criminal trials and court proceedings under IPC Section 124A (sedition) while allowing the Union of India to reconsider the law. The bench said that it “hope and expects” that the state and Central governments would restrain from registering any FIR, continuing any investigation or taking any coercive measures by invoking Section 124A of IPC while the reconsideration of the colonial provision was on.
Chilling effect on free speech: Petitioners
The petitioners, including the Editors Guild of India, Major General (Retd) Vombatkere, PUCL and Arun Shourie had said the sedition law had a chilling effect on free speech