The Supreme Court on Monday deferred hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the sedition law after the Centre said it is at an advanced stage of consultation on reexamining the colonial-era penal provision.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala noted the submission of Attorney General R Venkataramani that the government has initiated the process to reexamine Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code. The bench posted the hearing on the matter in the second week of August.
The batch of pleas challenged the constitutional validity of the penal provision. Venkataramani said the consultation process has been at the advance stage and before it goes to the Parliament, it will be shown to him.
“Kindly post the matter for further hearing after the Monsoon session of Parliament,” he urged the bench. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan urged the bench to constitute a bench of seven judges for adjudicating the issues. The bench said that even if the matter has to go to seven judges, it will have to be first placed before a five-judge bench.
On May 11 last year, in a landmark order, the top court had put on hold the colonial-era penal law on sedition till an “appropriate” Government forum re-examines it and directed the Centre and States to not register any fresh FIR invoking the offence.
Besides the lodging of FIRs, ongoing probes, pending trials and all proceedings under the sedition law across the country will also be in abeyance, the top court had ruled.