The call to scrap the colonial-era law has come from several quarters, even as the Union Law Ministry maintained that there is a proposal pending for the scrapping of the provision.
Several sitting and former Supreme Court judges have spoken out against the misuse of the provision. After his retirement, Justice Rohinton Nariman had urged the top court to strike down offensive portions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) and Section 124A.
“I would exhort the Supreme Court to not send sedition law cases pending before it back to the Centre. Governments will come and go (but) it is important for the court to use its power and strike down Section 124A and offensive portion of UAPA. Then citizens here would breathe more freely,” he said.
CJI Ramana had in August last year remarked that there is a recent trend of police officers facing sedition charges when the ruling political party with whom such officers were siding, loses power.
Source: Barandbench
