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Explained: India’s British-era sedition law

As the JNU student row becomes a bigger debate on democracy, we look at the charges against JNU student union president Kanhaiya Kumar that sparked the whole “anti-national, anti-India” debate. Kanhaiya Kumar was charged by the police under Sec-124 A of the Indian Penal Code as the Delhi police termed his words “incendiary” and hence “seditious”.

In 1962 the Supreme Court had, read down the provision of Section 124A even as it upheld the constitutional validity of section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) despite it restricting the right to free speech and expression.

“…words and speech can be criminalised and punished only in situations where it is being used to incite mobs or crowds to violent action. Mere words and phrases by themselves, no matter how distasteful, do not amount to a criminal offence unless this condition is met,” the top court had ruled, holding the restrictions are within the ambit of permissible legislative interference and in public interest.

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