Plea in SC says BNS has ‘repackaged' colonial sedition law; Bench seeks Centre's reply
A three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai issued notice to the Union government on a petition filed by S.G. Vombatkere, represented by advocate Prasanna S.
The petition said the apex court had ordered court proceedings and criminal prosecutions for sedition under Section 124A of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code (IPC) to be kept in abeyance in an order in May 2022.
However, when BNS replaced the British-era IPC in July 2024, Section 124A was slipped in again into the statute book in the guise of Section 152, the petition submitted.
'The provision, in effect, reintroduces the colonial sedition law previously codified as Section 124A of the IPC, 1860, under a new nomenclature. Though the language is altered, its substantive content—criminalising vague and broad categories of speech and expression such as 'subversive activity', 'encouragement of separatist feelings', and acts 'endangering unity or integrity of India' — remains the same or is even more expansive,' the petition said.
It said Section 152 was violative of fundamental rights under Articles 14 (equality), 19(1)(a) (free speech), and 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution.
Section 152 criminalised 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 petitioner argued.
The Bench tagged the petition with the pending case against the law of sedition.
The 2022 abeyance order of the top court had acted as a powerful message against the rampant misuse of the sedition law by governments to silence dissent and violate personal liberty. Undertrials booked under Section 124A were at the time free to use the order to seek bail.
The Centre too had acknowledged at the time that Section 124A was not in tune with the current times.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India.com
2 minutes ago
- India.com
'Will address street dog issue with empathy': Delhi govt amid protests against SC directive
Delhi cm rekha gupta- File image New Delhi: A day after the Supreme Court directed Delhi-NCR authorities to relocate all stray dogs to shelters, the city government on Tuesday said it will address the issue with 'compassion and empathy', even as animal rights activists hit the streets against the directive. Several politicians and celebrities, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, actors Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan, and filmmaker Siddharth Anand have expressed their disapproval of the order. While the Delhi government said it would seek suggestions from stakeholders before framing a detailed plan to relocate street dogs, officials noted the civic bodies will start the process of implementing the apex court's order in a phased manner after Independence Day. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the relocation strategy. 'We will have to look into our resources available and also allocate a budget for the campaign. We will plan a detailed campaign and take action accordingly,' an NDMC official told PTI. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the Supreme Court directive was a step back from decades of humane, science-backed policy, and stressed that 'blanket removals are cruel, shortsighted, and strip us of compassion'. Former Lok Sabha MP Varun Gandhi termed the SC directive 'institutionalisation of cruelty' and said that 'nations face deeper moral crises when they step away from empathy'. His mother, Maneka Gandhi, animal rights activist and former Union minister, on Monday called the SC directive 'impractical', 'financially unviable' and 'potentially harmful' to the region's ecological balance. On Tuesday, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) vehicles were seen picking up stray dogs from several locations. However, officials clarified that this was not related to the court order, but part of usual Independence Day preparations and the dogs will be released after the celebrations. Animal lovers and caregivers from across the national capital staged a protest against the apex court's order on Tuesday, saying the move would harm street dogs and disrupt the bond they share with communities. The protest, held at Connaught Place, saw participants holding placards that read 'Beware: Kaal Bhairav is watching' and 'Stop relocation, we stand in solidarity against the SC verdict'. Many displayed a picture of Lord Shiva with a dog seated beside him, symbolising the cultural and spiritual connection between humans and animals. Some were in tears, urging authorities to 'please let them be free, they are like small kids.' About 15 animal rights activists were detained by the police and taken to a nearby police station. During the protest, there was also a scuffle between animal lovers and police personnel. Protesters argued that dogs should not be confined to shelters, pointing out that people often feed them only on specific religious occasions when priests advise it. The top court on Monday directed all the strays to be removed and put in shelters by the Delhi government and civic bodies of Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan noted that there was an 'extremely grim' situation due to stray dog bites resulting in rabies, particularly among children. Delhi Development Minister Kapil Mishra, whose animal husbandry department will supervise the implementation of the SC order in the city, said the BJP government will address the stray dog issue with 'compassion and empathy'. 'We will hold a review meeting with different stakeholder departments in a couple of days. The Supreme Court has given a detailed order listing out various directions like making a helpline and shelter homes, among. 'It is a long-term exercise, and we do not want to get into it unprepared. We will properly do our research for two weeks and then start putting our plans into place,' Mishra told PTI. A senior official said the Delhi government has already started informal interactions with animal welfare bodies and activists to seek their suggestions. 'Before the Supreme Court order, the government was holding meetings to formalise a policy, but the apex court's directions have provided an outline of steps that need to be taken,' he said. An MCD official said that work on the process of relocating street dogs will begin only after next week. Another senior civic official confirmed that it will start after August 15. 'Till that time, no major work will take place because this process requires detailed planning. It has to be done in a phased manner, not in a day,' the official added. According to official data from the MCD, around 10,000 sterilisation and immunisation procedures for stray dogs are carried out on average each month. Thirteen NGOs are currently operating at 20 animal birth control centres in the city. No new proposals have been finalised yet, officials said. Some animal birth control centres in the city reported a surge in calls requesting rescue of stray dogs as well as reporting people abandoning their pet canines, while others said the situation remains unchanged. Ayesha Christine Benn from Neighbourhood Woof, an animal birth control centre, told PTI that they had been asked not to return dogs brought in for sterilisation to their original locations. Meanwhile, Krishna Devi, whose six-year-old niece Chhavi Sharma died after a stray dog attack in June, said, 'We don't want even our enemies to go through what we underwent. With the Supreme Court's decision, we believe that our child's death has not gone in vain.' 'I feel that my child is the change. I hope there are no more Chhavis who are hurt elsewhere. Nobody should go through the cruel fate we underwent,' Chhavi's aunt Devi told PTI.
Time of India
5 minutes ago
- Time of India
Lok Sabha passes bill to increase production, processing of critical minerals
Lok Sabha passes bill to increase production, processing of critical minerals Lok Sabha passes bill to increase production, processing of critical minerals 1 2 NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha on Monday passed a bill which seeks to provide a simpler regime for promoting conservation of minerals, zero waste mining and support the objectives of the National Critical Mineral Mission, given the significance of critical and strategic minerals in the development of the country. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2025, was passed after brief debate, with Union Minister for Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy stating that every sector is dependent on critical minerals. The significance of critical and strategic minerals in the development of the country is continuously increasing and recent global geo-political developments has constricted the supply-chains of these minerals. The Centre launched the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) in 2025 to establish a robust framework for self-reliance in the critical mineral sector. Under this mission, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has been tasked with conducting 1,200 exploration projects from 2024-25 to 2030-31. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill was passed amid sloganeering by opposition members over their demand for debate on Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar. In his reply to the debate on the bill, G Kishan Reddy said that India has less production of critical minerals and is largely dependent on imports. The bill seeks to amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and also seeks to promote extraction of deep-seated minerals. The minister said efforts have been stepped up since 2015 to boost the availability of critical minerals in the country. "We are moving in the right direction," he said. He emphasised that everyone should understand the value of critical minerals, as every sector, "from electricity and medical equipment to automobiles, defence, solar, and space, is heavily dependent on them". Kishan Reddy said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visits abroad, seeks to expand cooperation in critical minerals. He also attacked opposition parties over disruption in the House, saying they "do not have faith on the Supreme Court, Election Commission". The minister said the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2025, is an important bill for the mining sector. "Mining sector will be an important pillar and will have a big role in India's journey to Viksit Bhart by 2047," he said. In his brief remarks while moving the bills for passing, Kishan Reddy said critical minerals is the need of the hour and sought unanimous support for the legislation. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 has been amended several times over the years. The last amendment made in the Act in 2023 focused on increasing exploration and production of critical and strategic minerals in the country by introducing a new list of 24 critical and strategic minerals; empowering the Central Government to auction mineral concessions in respect of such minerals and introduction of exploration licence for critical and deep-seated minerals. According to the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2025, there is need to provide a dynamic market mechanism for minerals backed by a robust regulatory regime with the increased availability and demand of minerals in the country. "Setting up of mineral exchanges will help miners and end-users of minerals in determining fair and transparent market prices based on supply and demand dynamics, stabilise markets and aid in budgeting and planning. This will promote investment in mining sector and infrastructure related to transport and storage," the statement said. The bill seeks to remove the limit on the sale of minerals from the captive mines so that miners can sell minerals after meeting the requirements of the end-use plant linked with the mine and on payment of an additional amount specified in the Act. It seeks to allow the sale of dumps which have been stacked up to such date as may be specified by the Central Government in captive leases which cannot be captively utilised to reduce environmental hazards and increase safety in mine workings, bring more minerals to the market and provide additional revenue to the States. India is mostly dependent on the import of critical minerals. A National Critical Mineral Mission has been launched to increase domestic production, including from the offshore areas of India, secure supply chains from outside India and promote processing of critical minerals. "There is an urgent need to further amend the Act to support the National Critical Mineral Mission in its objectives," the statement said. The bill seeks to empower the Central Government to promote the development of the market, including trading, of minerals, their concentrates or their processed forms (including metals) through mineral exchanges. It seeks to widen the scope and territorial domain of the National Mineral Exploration Trust to enable the use of the funds accrued to the Trust within India, including the offshore areas, and outside India for the purposes of exploration and development of mines and minerals. The bill seeks to enable one-time extension of the area under a mining lease or composite licence to include therein a contiguous area not exceeding ten per cent. or thirty per cent., respectively, of the existing area under the lease or licence subject to such terms and conditions and additional payment as may be prescribed in rules by the Central Government. "This will promote optimal mining of deep-seated minerals which are locked up in contiguous areas and may not be economically viable to be extracted under a separate lease or licence," the statement said. The bill seeks to rename the Trust as the National Mineral Exploration and Development Trust to reflect its enlarged scope and increase the amount of payment to the Trust by the lessees from present two per cent. of the royalty payable to three per cent. of the royalty payable; It seeks to enable the inclusion of any new mineral in a mining lease, subject to the conditions prescribed by the Central Government and the additional amount payable as specified in the proposed Eighth Schedule to the Act. No additional amount is applicable on inclusion of critical and strategic mineral or minerals specified in the Seventh Schedule to the Act to incentivise production of these minerals which are found in small quantity and are difficult to mine and process.
Time of India
17 minutes ago
- Time of India
Centre plans to implement AI-based early warning systems to protect wildlife
COIMBATORE: The Union govt is planning to implement an AI-based early warning system in elephant corridors along the railway tracks across the country. This follows the successful implementation of the AI-based early warning systems by the Tamil Nadu forest department in Madukkarai forest range in Coimbatore district. 'AI-based early warning shall be implemented in the elephant corridors along the railway tracks in other states, as well. Not just elephants, but other vulnerable species like tigers and others can also be included, for which a primary study will be conducted,' said Union minister of state for environment, forest and climate change Kirti Vardhan Singh. The minister was speaking to reporters after taking part in World Elephant Day 2025 celebrations held in Coimbatore on Tuesday evening. He appreciated Tamil Nadu for the successful adoption of the technological advancement in ecological conservation. At the event, Gaj Gaurav Awards were conferred on forest frontline staff members and mahouts from across India. Two of the awardees were from Tamil Nadu. The minister stated that, as per the 2017 estimation, 29,000 elephants were recorded. India contributes to about 60% of the Asiatic elephant population. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The 5 Books Warren Buffett Recommends You To Read in 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo 'We have now identified and ground validated 150 elephant corridors across 15 states,' he said. On the eve of the last year's World Elephant Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured on the use of remote sensing & geospatial mapping and AI to combat issues like human-animal conflicts, which has perfectly shown success at Madukkarai forest range.' Earlier, chief minister M K Stalin shared a note for the World Elephant Day on his X handle. In the post, the CM emphasised the achievement of 2,800 safe elephant crossings since February 2024, with zero train collisions via an AI-powered early warning system in Madukkarai. 'Our Dravidian Model govt recently inaugurated a mahout village at Theppakadu, featuring eco-friendly houses for mahouts and cavadies who care for these gentle giants. It strengthens the welfare of caregivers while advancing conservation. Let us pledge to keep elephants safe and free for generations to come,' he posted. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
