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Supreme Court Puts Sedition Law On Hold, Says No New Case Should Be Filed Under Section 124A In The Interim

Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Wednesday put the sedition law on hold and urged the Centre and states to refrain from registering any FIRs invoking Section 124A of IPC.

The court allowed the Centre to re-examine and reconsider the provisions of Section 124A and said that no case will be registered under the section till the exercise of re-examination is complete.

“We hope and expect that Centre and states will restrain from registering fresh FIRs under Section 124A (sedition) of IPC,” the order said.

Notably, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Center to file its reply by Wednesday on whether the sedition law can be ‘put on hold’ and under it the cases of those accused as well as future cases which are currently suspended. has gone. It is possible The law is being re-examined.

“We will give you time till tomorrow morning to take instructions from the government. Our concern is pending cases and future cases, how the government will take care of those till it re-examines the law,” CJI NV Ramana said.

“To protect the interest of people who are already booked under the sedition law and future cases, Centre to file response on whether those can be kept in abeyance till the law is re-examined,” the CJI added.

The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that suspending or staying the sedition provisions till the time the law is being reviewed may not be the correct approach.

Clarifying its stand on future cases, the Center told the Supreme Court that “cognizable offence cannot be prevented from being registered”. The Center said that this could not be the right way, hence the investigation of a responsible officer is required before registering an FIR under Section 124A of the IPC. The officer’s satisfaction is subject to judicial review.

SG Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, argued that ‘as far as the pending sedition cases are concerned, the gravity of each case is not known, it may have a terror angle or money laundering. Ultimately the pending cases are before the judicial forum, and we need to trust the courts.

“What your lordships can consider is if there is a stage of bail application involving Section 124A IPC. The bail applications may be decided expeditiously,” advocate Mehta said adding that there is no accused before the court. “To entertain in a PIL may be a dangerous precedent,” he said.

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