Government informs Supreme Court that review of sedition law is in advanced stage

The Indian government is in the process of reviewing the sedition law, according to a statement made to the Supreme Court. A batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the colonial-era penal provision were deferred until the second week of August. The Attorney General R Venkataramani said that the consultation process was at an advanced stage and would be shown to him before it goes to Parliament. In May 2020, the Supreme Court 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. Sedition, which provides a maximum jail term of life under Section 124A of the IPC for creating “disaffection towards the government”, was brought into the penal code in 1890.