Centre seeks another week to reply to pleas against sedition law
NEW DELHI: The Union government on Wednesday requested the Supreme Court to give it a week more to formalise its stand on a bunch of petitions that have demanded that the penal provision of sedition in India be struck down.
The Centre moved its application a day before a bench, headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana, is set to take up the cases, which the court clarified in its last order, would be heard effectively on May 5 and “no further adjournment would be granted in the matters”.
On April 27, the bench, which also comprises justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, directed the government to clarify its stand within four days on the clutch of writ petitions challenging the validity of Section 124A (sedition) in the Indian Penal Code, and fixed May 5 as the day to commence detailed hearing in the matter.
Since the government remained amiss in adhering to the court-mandated deadline, the central government filed its first application on Monday, seeking a day’s time to submit its counter affidavit. The reason for the delay in filing the reply was attributed to the pending approval from the competent authority. However, the affidavit was not filed even on Monday.
With the proceedings slated to resume on Thursday, a second such application was moved by the Centre on Wednesday, yet again asking for additional time. The government, in its fresh plea, cited the same old reason. “The drafting and approval of
the affidavit is taking some more time and is pending with the competent authority. Therefore, the instant application prays for an extension of the time period set for filing the counter affidavit by one week,” stated the new application, filed through the Union home affairs ministry.
The court will on Thursday consider a batch of petitions, filed separately by former army officer SG Vombatkere, Editors Guild of India, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, NGO PUCL and some journalists, pressing for striking down Section 124A (sedition) in the Indian Penal Code which is punishable with a jail term ranging between three years to life.
The last effective hearing in the matter was conducted on July 15, 2021 when the top court lamented the “enormous power of misuse” of the sedition law in India, and asked the Union government why it should not scrap a colonial law that was once used by the British government to oppress the freedom movements and leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The court, on that day, observed that indiscriminate use of Section 124A (sedition) in the Indian Penal Code is like a saw in the hands of a carpenter who cuts the entire forest instead of a tree.