The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has expressed its satisfaction with the ruling regarding sedition that was handed down by the Supreme Court and has demanded the immediate release of all those who have been incarcerated according to the colonial statute.
“We appreciate the ruling by the Indian Supreme Court to examine the Sedition Law, which has been applied arbitrarily and to a large extent against nonviolent opponents. In a tweet sent on Thursday, May 12, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said that “all individuals currently arrested under the law should be considered for immediate release.”
The Supreme Court panel of Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, Justice Surya Kant, and Justice Hima Kohli, in its ruling handed on Wednesday, May 11, putting the sedition legislation on hold, made it plain that it did not want the Central and state governments to apply the law at all while it is under ‘review.’
When it comes to invoking Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, “we hope and expect that the state and central governments will refrain from registering any FIR, continuing any investigation, or taking any coercive measures” while the provision of law is in effect, the Supreme Court stated in its ruling. In the event that such lawsuits are still brought, the bench has indicated that parties who have been impacted may petition the courts for relief by citing this specific ruling.
According to the Indian Penal Code, section 124A, “Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government estabÂlished by law shall be punished with imÂprisonment for life, to which fine may be added…”
Between the years of 2014 and 2019, a total of 326 cases were filed in the nation under the contentious sedition statute; however, only six people were found guilty of breaking the law. In Assam, where there was a total of 54 instances reported, chargesheets were filed in 26 of those cases, and trials for 25 of those cases were concluded. According to the statistics provided by the Ministry of the Interior of the Union between 2014 and 2019, not a single instance resulted in a conviction.
Between the years 2014 and 2019, there were a total of seventeen instances of sedition filed in Uttar Pradesh and eight in West Bengal. In spite of the fact that chargesheets were submitted in eight different instances in UP and five different cases in West Bengal, nobody was ever found guilty in either state.
