Committee on criminal law reforms recommended amendments to sedition law

Either completely withdraw the law or amend the particular section, says official

A panel of experts constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to suggest reforms to the British-era Indian Penal Code (IPC) has recommended amendments to the sedition law, a senior government official told The Hindu.

The Committee for Reforms in Criminal Laws appointed by the MHA in 2020 submitted an exhaustive report in March, which among other IPC sections also examined Section 124-A IPC or sedition.

The official said there were two school of thoughts – either completely withdraw the law or amend the particular section.

“The panel was largely of the view that if sedition could be dropped and included as a sub-set in a wider range of crimes committed against the State. A person cannot be made to languish in jail for writing a newspaper article. It has to be seen if that article led to serious law and order problems, mere presumption is not sufficient,” said the official.

A questionnaire sent by the committee for public consultation in 2020 had under a category called the “Offences Against the State,” asked “Does the offence of sedition under Section 124-A require omission or any amendment in terms of its definition, scope and cognisability?”

Other than IPC, the committee also examined and has recommended changes to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Evidence Act, 1872.

“Simply criticising the State should not be enough to invoke sedition, let there be a guilty mind – whether such act wanted to disturbance? The term sedition is colonial. When there is no king, how can a provision meant to protect the king be there?” said the official citing the recommendations of the report.