Sedition law: Government asked for more time, Supreme Court said – now the case will not be adjourned

New Delhi: On the petitions challenging the constitutionality of the sedition law, the Supreme Court has clearly said that the matter will not be adjourned any longer. Today, the court said it will hear on May 10 petitions related to the colonial-era penal law on sedition. It has given more time to the central government to file its reply. Chief Justice N. A bench of V. Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli began hearing the petitions against the sedition law and after some time adjourned it till Tuesday.

Attorney General KK Venugopal spoke about the guidelines regarding the use of the law. He raised the issue of misuse of provision against the Maharashtra MP for reading Hanuman Chalisa.

Government asked for more time
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, requested the court to grant some more time to file its reply on the petitions. He said that since the issue is of utmost importance, the approval of the competent authority is awaited on the draft prepared by the lawyers for filing the reply. He said that recently some new petitions have also been filed and it is necessary to respond to them.

After this the Chief Justice said, ‘List this matter for Tuesday afternoon at 2 pm. File the affidavit by the Solicitor General by Monday. The matter will not be adjourned any longer. The bench had on April 27 directed the central government to file its reply and said it would commence the final hearing in the matter on May 5 and not entertain any request for adjournment.

Concerned over the misuse of the penal law relating to sedition, the apex court had in July last year asked the central government why it was not striking down a provision that was used by the British to suppress the freedom movement and silence people like Mahatma Gandhi. did. Agreeing to hear petitions by the Editors Guild of India and former Major-General S G Wombatkere challenging the constitutionality of Section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code, the apex court had said that its main concern was misuse of law. .