The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed concern over the misuse of sedition law in the country and asked the centre whether it was “still necessary after 75 years of Independence”. A bench headed by Chief justice N V Ramana said the main concern was about the “misuse of law”, and seeking a response from the Centre over the necessity of the law which was inserted during the colonial era in 1870, purportedly to curb dissent.
Here are the five top quoted made by the top court on sediton law
“The dispute is it is a colonial law… the very same law was used by the British to silence Mahatma Gandhi and to suppress the freedom movement. Is the law still necessary in the statute book in our country after 75 years of Independence?”
Underlining that he was not blaming any state or government for misuse of the provision, the CJI Said, ” “Unfortunately, the executing agency and particularly the authorities misuse it. Take example of 66A which was struck down but people were arrested. There is misuse of these provisions, but there is no accountability!”
The Judge said that the powers under Section 124A are so vast that a police officer who wants to fix anybody for playing cards, gambling, etc. “This is like if a police officer wants to fix anybody in a village for something, he can use Section 124A… People are scared,” the bench said.
Likening the law to a carpenter , the CJI said: “There is enormous power of misuse. We can compare it to the carpenter, instead of cutting wood, cutting the forest itself. That is the effect of this law,” the CJI said.
CJI also noted that conviction rate in such cases is abysmally low and there is no accountability for executives. “Our concern is misuse of the law and no accountability of the executive. If you go see the history of charging of this question, there is minimal conviction and conviction rate is low.”
