From sedition to UAPA: Policing dissent in India

Few laws reveal the Indian State's unease with dissent as starkly as sedition.

- Insiyah Vahanvaty Ashish Bharadwaj

Drafted in 1870 to protect the British Crown from political unrest and infamously wielded against figures such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi, Section 124A of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code was never meant for a constitutional democracy. Yet, more than 70 years after Independence, it has resurfaced in one form or the other whenever the State felt politically challenged by citizens. As the Supreme Court now reexamines the law’s constitutional validity, it is worth noting that the UK, from where India inherited sedition, has long since consigned it to history.

The immediate spark for this judicial reckoning came in February 2021, when journalists Kishore Wangkhemcha and Kanhaiya Lal Shukla, both charged with sedition, approached the Supreme Court challenging the law. They argued that the vague language, which criminalises attempts to “excite disaffection” against the government, stifles free speech and violates Articles 14 (equality), 19(1)(a) (freedom of speech), and 21 (life and liberty) of the Constitution. Their case quickly snowballed into a broader constitutional challenge, joined by the Editors Guild of India, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Arun Shourie, Mahua Moitra, and several others.