Supreme Court refers pleas challenging validity of sedition law to bench

“Consequently, the validity of the prosecution which would be launched so long as section 124A continues to remain in the statute, will have to be assessed on that basis,” it said

The Supreme Court on Tuesday referred to a Constitution bench of at least five judges a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the IPC provision on sedition, a month after the Centre introduced in Parliament, bills to replace the colonial-era penal statutes IPC, CrPC and the Evidence Act, proposing among other things the repeal of the sedition law.

A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud declined the Centre’s request to defer the issue of reference to a larger bench as Parliament is in the process of re-enacting the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Bill has now been placed before a standing committee. “We are not inclined to accept the request for deferring the consideration of the constitutional challenge in these batch of matters for more than one reason,” said the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.

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The bench observed that section 124A (sedition) of the IPC continues to remain on the statute book, and even if the new Bill becomes a law, there is a presumption that any new law in the penal statute will have prospective and not retrospective effect. “Consequently, the validity of the prosecution which would be launched so long as section 124A continues to remain in the statute, will have to be assessed on that basis,” it said.

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