Analyzing Sedition With The Help Of Case Laws

Utkarsh Singh, Amity Law School, Amity University Lucknow

Introduction

Sedition law as introduced in India as section 124A in 1870 of the Indian Penal Code of 1860(IPC), where it was completely based on the draft penal code of 1837 which was made by Macaulay. In a sense it was not the British government but the East India company spreading its tentacles in trade and governance over India which had the military support of the Government of the Britain. On the face of it appeared that they are spreading supremacy of their own race over the colonised by preserving their own rights related to freedom of speech and oppression and smashing away the rights of the inferior race they considered as being the subject of colonization, exploiting the inferior race for all that could be taken away from it1. It proved to be a draconian weapon of choice that give ultimate power and privilege to any elected government without giving any second thought to the fact that an independent democratic government of India is a government that has been duly and on purpose been elected only for a period of 5 years, multifaceted pluralist and secular country with its constitution, sedition law has proved to be a legacy that has been carried for suppressing dissent and disagreement. However, it appears that in spite of the voices that are raising against it the sedition law has survived despite it being the integral part of the overall authoritarian design of imperial legislation.