The challenge to the validity of the sedition law, specifically, the IPC Section 124 A, is welcome. The apex court on Wednesday directed some precautionary steps to ensure that it is not invoked indiscriminately to penalise those perceived to be against the ruling dispensation. Once the matter is finally disposed of by the Supreme Court it would of course merit a considered comment. Our limited purpose here is to draw attention to the fact that the British era law was allowed to remain in the statute book by all governments.
And, mind you, it was used and misused by all governments. This we say not in any way to defend the law which oozes an undemocratic and authoritarian smell from afar. Yet, any attempt to paint the previous governments as fierce champions of fundamental rights will be totally misplaced, especially given the fact that they did not lift their little finger to remove it from the statute book.
A senior advocate appearing for the petitioners on Tuesday intoned with a gusto that both Nehru and Gandhi (Mahatma not Indira), were against the sedition law and often railed against it. Yes, Gandhi was never in government. Nehru led it for three decades. How is it that even he failed to remove this scar on the liberal constitution? Moral: Let us stay close to facts, not deify individuals whose actions should matter more than their words.
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