New Delhi : The Supreme Court has banned the use of the sedition law. The court has said that no new case should be registered under the sedition law i.e. 124A till the reconsideration. Along with this, the court has said that the status quo should be kept on the pending cases. At the same time, the court has said that those who are facing trial on charges of sedition and are in jail on this charge, they can file an application for bail in the appropriate courts.
Now the matter will be heard in the third week of July. The matter challenging the constitutional validity of the sedition law was heard in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. During this, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central Government, told the court that we have prepared a draft of the instructions to be issued to the state governments. According to him, there will be a clear instruction to the state governments that without the approval of the District Police Captain ie SP or higher level officer, FIR will not be registered under the sections of sedition. With this argument, the Solicitor General told the court that at present this law should not be stayed.
The Solicitor General also told the court that the police officer would also give sufficient reasons in support of registering an FIR under the provisions of sedition. He said that an alternative remedy is possible till the law is reconsidered. On the matter of data, the Solicitor General said that this is a bailable section, now it is difficult to analyze or assess the seriousness of all pending cases. So how can the court stay the definition of crime in such a situation? That would not be appropriate. While arguing on behalf of the petitioners, advocate Kapil Sibal has demanded from the court that there is a need to stop the sedition law immediately.
At present a three-judge bench is hearing the legality of the sedition law. Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli are included in this bench. At the same time, in this case, the Center has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying that the government has decided to reconsider and re-examine the sedition law. The Central Government has told the court that it will reconsider the validity of Section 124A of the Sedition Act. Therefore, do not hear the matter till its validity is reviewed.
