Supreme Court notice to Centre on plea claiming BNS revived sedition law

India Today

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The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Centre on a plea challenging Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which reintroduces the colonial sedition law previously codified as Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).The plea says that Section 152 of the BNS has "revived and repackaged" the sedition provisions in the IPC, after the Supreme Court had barred the filing of FIRs under Section 124A of the IPC.advertisementA bench headed by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai issued notice to the Centre and tagged the matter with the already pending batch of cases challenging the erstwhile sedition law under Section 124A of the IPC. The sedition matters have been pending before the top court since 2021.
In 2022, the Supreme Court also considered whether the issue was needed to be sent to a seven-judge Constitution bench, since there was a five-judge bench verdict that had upheld the offence of sedition earlier.Speaking to India Today TV, a lawyer connected to the matter said, The filing of the fresh plea was expected to speed up the hearing of the batch of petitions challenging the sedition law, which has remained pending and not been heard since September 2023. The central government assured the court that it would reconsider the law on sedition," the lawyer said.On May 11, 2022, the Supreme Court ordered that 'no coercive action' be taken in sedition cases that remain pending while the government re-examines the law.In the meantime, the IPC was repealed and the BNS came into effect on July 1, 2024. The pending petitions have not been heard in the meantime.The fresh petition filed by retired Major General SG Vombatkere says that BNS Section 152 "repackaged" the sedition law despite the pause order from the Supreme Court and pending proceedings."The very petitioner had previously challenged Section 124A of the IPC in SG Vombatkere vs Union of India, leading to this court directing that all prosecutions under the said provision be kept in abeyance pending legislative reconsideration. However, Section 152 of the BNS is nothing but a repackaged sedition law, reinstated despite the pending challenge and suspension of Section 124A," the plea said."Section 152 criminalises a wide spectrum of expressive conduct, including those who 'purposely or knowingly' use words - spoken, written, electronic, symbolic or financial - to 'excite or attempt to excite' secession, rebellion or subversive activities. Its sweeping language, including phrases like 'encouraging feelings of separatist activities', fails the test of constitutional validity due to vagueness, overbreadth, chilling effect, disproportionate punishment and absence of proximate nexus to public disorder," the plea said.advertisementThe petition has gone into the various subclauses and provisions under Section 152 of the BNS, arguing that the "provision was unconstitutional for multiple and interrelated reasons, and must be struck down. "Each component of the section suffers from vagueness, overbreadth and arbitrariness, thereby violating Articles 14, 19(1)(a), and 21 of the Constitution," it said."It further submitted that Section 152 "impermissibly criminalised a wide range of expressive acts, including spoken, written, symbolic, electronic and financial communication, without satisfying the constitutionally mandated tests of legality, necessity, and proportionality under Article 19(2)".Additionally, the plea argued that the provision "employed ambiguous and undefined terms", which would have a "chilling effect on constitutionally protected speech".- EndsTune InMust Watch
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