Dangerous provisions: Stop misuse of sedition, defamation against media

The only remedy to this sort of overreach by those who should know better lies through court action and legal reform

In May 2022, the Supreme Court took a great step forward for constitutional liberties in India. A Bench headed by Justice N V Ramana, then chief justice, suspended the operation of the sedition provision in the Indian Penal Code — under Section 124A. This followed a recognition of the fact that the code, as written — although it had been read down as early as 1962, in the Kedarnath Singh case — was being misused by the political authorities. Unfortunately, politicians have chosen to ignore the court’s desire. A particularly shocking example of this was visible recently in the Assam