Sharad Pawar tells Bhima Koregaon panel to do away with sedition law

The NCP chief to appear before two-member commission in first week of May 

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, in an affidavit filed before the Bhima Koregaon enquiry commission, has urged that Section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) be repealed as it was being deployed to suppress any dissent being raised in a peaceful and democratic manner.

Mr. Pawar, who is slated to appear before the two-member enquiry commission as a witness in the first week of May, also suggested the reintroduction of Section 66 A (which was struck down by the Supreme Court) of the Information Technology (IT) Act to give teeth to the Act.

In his nine-page affidavit, the NCP chief stated that Section 124A was inserted by the British in 1870 to control uprisings against them and to suppress the Indian freedom movement.

“In recent times this section is often being misused against people who criticise the government, suppressing their liberty and tend to stifle any voice of dissent raised in a peaceful and democratic way. Hence, it is proposed that the misuse of Section 124A of IPC should be stopped with amendments or the said section be repealed. Provisions of the IPC and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act are sufficient for protecting the nation’s integrity,” read Mr. Pawar’s affidavit.

Urging the reintroduction of Section 66A of the IT Act, Mr. Pawar said that in recent times, it had been observed “that any sensitive incident is followed by online cyber warfare with palpable incitement to violence, communal hatred and malafide online campaigns.”

These, he said, could lead to “serious law and order situations and pose grave challenge to law enforcement agencies.”

Mr. Pawar will appear before the commission comprising retired Kolkata High Court Chief Justice J.N. Patel and former Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sumit Mullick, which had been set up by the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis-led government in February 2018 to probe the sequence of events leading up to the violence on the occasion of the bicentennial anniversary of the 1818 battle of Koregaon Bhima.