Sedition cases decline but remain higher than 2015, 2016: An analysis

Conviction rate almost unchanged; charge sheet filed in less than 50% cases in most years

On May 11, the Supreme Court of India, in an interim order, put the 152-year-old sedition law in abe­y­ance, and asked the Centre and the states to ref­rain from registering fresh first information reports (FIRs) under the law while it is being reviewed. The court will hear the case further in July.

While the number of cases registered under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, or the sedition law, fell in 2020 and 2021, these were still higher than the number of such cases filed before 2016, a Business Standard analysis has found.

An analysis of data from the