NEW DELHI: There is no proposal under consideration currently to scrap the law on sedition, law minister
Kiren Rijiju said in Lok Sabha on Friday. He, however, said “the question of law” regarding Section 124-A was pending adjudication before the Supreme Court. In response to a question in the House on whether the government was planning to strike down the sedition laws in view of an adverse observation by the
Supreme Court, the minister said there was no such proposal under consideration of the government at present.
The SC had asked questions about the law saying the sedition law was a colonial law. “Do we still need the law in our country after 75 years of Independence?” the court had said. However, the issue remains contested with the case being made out that “anti-national” activities need to be covered by some law.
Rijiju further clarified that the apex court in its order of May 31, 2021 had only observed that the ambit of the provisions of Sec 124-A, 153-A and 505 of the IPC would require interpretation “in the context of the right of the electronic and print media to communicate news, information and the rights, even of those that may be critical of the prevailing regime in any part of the nation”.