India’s top court puts the country’s colonial-era sedition law on hold. The law was an evil on the judicial system of the Indian Justice system. Decision came after wide range of protests and also after many petitions being filed to revoke the law.
Now the question comes, what is sedition law? to know what this we have look back at the pages of history. Sedition law, is section 124A of the Indian Penal Code enacted in the year 1860, under British Raj. It law was enacted to deal with the offences against the state. Throughout the British rule, this law was used to subdue the activists in favor of national independence. The section kept on drawing criticism from independent India as well for being hinderance to freedom of speech.
Critics have claimed that the current government was using the law to suppress silence and dissent against the government. The Supreme Court asked the Indian Government and state authorities to refrain from registering fresh cases under this law. People accused or detained under this law is allowed to seek bail from courts. Chief Justice of India said that, “it will be inappropriate not to use this provision till further re-examination is over.”
This sedition law, offers a legal framework to characterize citizens as a threat to the state. Its use to silence critics in India isn’t new. The government have brandished the law to silence critics to the administration. Under Prime Minister Modi, critics claim that India is growing notorious and intolerable. The law have been used to silence critics, intellects, student activists and many innocent people.
The long and slow judicial process becomes punishment for the accused seeking justice. This law has adverse impact on the individual from obtaining passport or seeking government jobs. The government have always tried to silence the critics of their administration. This “hold” on the law is the major change in the judiciary system as well as in the legislation. India has become the law to justice denied and this decision from Supreme Court as a new ray of hope. Also this will protect the rights of human and also maintain their dignity.
