Bill widens offence of sedition, proposes stricter punishment

The act of sedition continues to be a crime under a proposed Indian law introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday, albeit under a different name, with the punishment for it actually being increased.

- Utkarsh Anand

 

Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday said in the Lok Sabha that one of the proposed legislations aimed at overhauling the criminal justice system will completely repeal the offence of sedition, as prescribed under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), adding that the bill will be sent to a parliamentary panel for scrutiny.

An analysis of the Bharativa Nyaya Sanita Bill, 2023, however, suggests that the offence of sedition has been retained under the proposed law with a new nomenclature and a more expansive definition of what will constitute “acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”, even as it removes the words “disaffection towards the Government established by law in India” from the old Section 124A of IPC.

While the new provision, inducted as Section 150 of the bill, is more specific than the old one and directly targets secessionism, separatism, and a call for armed rebellion -- without using the words “contempt” or “hatred” against the Government of India (as is under Section 124A), it leaves ample room for interpretation by neither incorporating the test of incitement to violence in the proposed provision nor connecting the act to public order.

The proposed Section 150 continues to criminalise any act that “excites or attempts to excite” secessionist activities or “encourages feelings of separatist activities” instead of making incitement to violence or disruption to public order a condition precedent to invoke the charges.

Additionally, Section 150 in the 2023 bill penalises a person who “indulges in or commits any such act”, vesting with law enforcement agencies a greater discretion to decide what can be brought within the fold of an act “endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India” for the purposes of slapping the charges.