Sedition law does not need any reconsideration, says Centre in affidavit to SC

The affidavit by the Narendra Modi-led Central government said that the precedent set by the 1962 verdict has stood the test of time and that isolated instances of misuse cannot be grounds for striking it down.

The Central government in its affidavit to the Supreme Court has defended Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, commonly known as the sedition law, and said that it continues to be a “good law and needs no reconsideration.” Referring to the 1962 verdict of the five-judge Constitution bench case which upheld the validity of the offence of sedition under Section 124A, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said in the written submission that the judgement has stood the test of time and applied till date in line with modern constitutional principles.

The affidavit by the Narendra Modi-led Central government said that the precedent set by the 1962 verdict has stood the test of time and that isolated instances of misuse cannot be grounds for striking it down. “It is a settled position in law that a judgment which withstood the test of time and has been followed not mechanically but in the context of changing circumstances cannot be easily doubted,” the Central government said in the affidavit.

The submission further read that the focus should be on preventing misuse of the law on a case-to-case basis. “The remedy would lie in preventing such abuse on a case-to-case basis rather than doubting a long-standing settled law declared by a Constitution bench since about six decades,” said the Central government.