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Sedition or defamation charges can not be invoked for criticism of Government : SC

by IBNS 06 Sep 2016, 08:22 am

New Delhi, Sept 6 (IBNS) : In a significant ruling, the Supreme Court has stated that sedition or defamation cases cannot be slapped on anyone criticising the Government, reports said.

 “Someone making a statement to criticise the government does not invoke an offence under sedition or defamation law,"  a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and U.U. Lalit said on Monday.

"We have made it clear that invoking of section 124(A) of IPC (sedition) requires certain guidelines to be followed as per the earlier judgement of the apex court,” the bench said.

The top court's observation came as advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for an NGO, said sedition was a serious offence and the law pertaining to it was being grossly misused.

We don’t have to explain the sedition law. It’s already there in the five-judge constitution bench judgment in Kedar Nath Singh vs state of Bihar of 1962," it said.

The court, however, disposed of a petition filed by NGO Common Cause alleging misuse of the sedition law and  refused to pass a direction, saying  a copy of this order be sent to all Chief Secretaries of states and the Directors General of Police.

The NGO had said that there has been an increase in the number of cases of sedition against intellectuals, activists, students and cited the instance of sedition charge being levelled against Amnesty India for organising a debate on Kashmir.