New
Delhi:
The Supreme Court today questioned the sedition law, calling it “colonial” as
it observed that the British-era law holds “enormous power” for misuse. The
bench also asked whether it was “still necessary after 75 years of Independence”.
Here
are 5 top court quotes on sedition law:
1. Chief Justice NV Ramana said, “Dispute
is it is colonial law, very same law was used by the British to silence
(Mahatma) Gandhi. Is the law still necessary in our country after 75 years of
Independence?”
2. “Our concern is misuse of the law and
no accountability of the executive. If you go see the history of charging of
this question, there is minimal conviction and conviction rate is low,” Chief
Justice told the Attorney General KK Venugopal.
3. “We are not blaming any state or
government, but look at how Section 66A of the Information Technology Act is
continuing to be used, how many unfortunate people have suffered and there is
no accountability for this...,” the Chief Justice said.
4. “This is like if a police officer
wants to fix anybody in a village for something, he can use Section 124A...
People are scared,” the bench said.
5. Comparing the law to a carpenter, the
Chief Justice said, “There is enormous misuse. Use of sedition is like giving a
saw to the carpenter to cut a piece of wood and he uses it to cut the entire
forest itself”.
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