Supreme Court stays all SEDITION charges: On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of the country has taken a historic decision while hearing pending petitions against Section 124A of the IPC i.e. sedition law. The Supreme Court has said in its order that until the Center is reviewed, all cases of sedition should be postponed and fresh arrests should not be made in the case of sedition.
This order will remain in force until the Supreme Court gives any further order or the government does not take any decision on it.
Let us tell you that a few days ago the Central Government had said that in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Government of India has decided to re-examine and reconsider the provisions of Section 124A, Sedition Act.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the government, had argued that it would not be right to stay the registration of new cases under this law till it is reviewed. He said that in cognizable offences, such cases can be registered on the recommendation of a senior officer. However, the court rejected the arguments of the central government and decided to stay the law.
The court unilaterally asked the central government to review this law and advised to reconsider its section 124A. On the other hand, it also prohibited the registration of new cases under 124A till the completion of the review process. The top court asked the central and state governments to now stop the registration of cases against people under Section 124A of the IPC. This section is also called sedition law. There has been a frequent demand to remove this British-era law, for which an application was also filed in the top court recently. Hearing this, the court has given this decision.
The central government had argued in the court that it would be wrong to give a stay on the sedition law, which the Constitutional Bench had also said to uphold. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the central government, said in the court that as far as pending cases are concerned, we are not aware of the seriousness of each of them. In some of these cases there may be a terror angle, while in some cases there may be a case of money laundering. The pending cases are sub-judice before the courts and we must rely on their process. But the court ordered a stay, considering the arguments of the Center insufficient.