The hearing on the sedition case was held in the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The Central Government appealed to postpone the hearing on the matter, while the petitioner’s lawyer Kapil Sibal has opposed it. However, the Supreme Court has given one more day to the Central Government to reconsider the sedition law. The court has given the Center time till tomorrow i.e. Wednesday morning to clear its stand on the pending cases and how the government will handle the future cases.
The government gave this clarification on changing its stand
Earlier, the central government clarified before the court on changing its stand in the sedition case. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that keeping in mind the national interest and the unity and integrity of the country, the Central Executive has taken this new decision. However, this will not remove the provision of punishment. No one can say that those who work against the country should not be punished. The government is making provision for further improvement in this, so the court should postpone the hearing for now.
We only challenged the existing provision
On behalf of the petitioners, Kapil Sibal objected and said that the government is taking its cover, while we have challenged the provision 124A of the IPC. Whatever the new amended law will come, we have challenged the existing provision.
CJI said – 9 months have passed since the notice was sent
The CJI told the central government that it has been almost nine months since our notice. You still need time. After all, how much time will you take? The Solicitor General said that we have put our point before the court through affidavit on legal grounds, but no promise or assurance can be given about how long it will take to amend the law. On this, the CJI asked the Solicitor General that why is the Attorney General not in the court today? The Solicitor General said that his health is bad.
A matter of challenging the validity of the law
During the hearing in the Supreme Court, the petitioners have told the court that if the Supreme Court sends the issue of validity of the law to a larger bench for further consideration, then the court should stay the implementation of the law in the meantime. In 1962, in Kedarnath Singh vs Government of Bihar, a five-judge Constitution Bench upheld the validity of the law. At the same time, the petitioners in the court have said that if the Supreme Court, considering the need for reconsideration of the Kedarnath Singh decision, sends it to a bench of 5 or more judges, then the court should stop the implementation of this law. Right now a three-judge bench is hearing the legality of the sedition law.
