New Delhi : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said that the sedition law is being reviewed by the Law Commission. “The Law Commission is reviewing it; we have asked the Law Commission to give its report soon,” he said while intervening during the question hour in the Rajya Sabha.
Responding to a question by Shiv Sena member Anil Desai, the minister of state for home Kiran Rejiju admitted that cases of sedition were often found to be violative of the right to freedom of speech. “The provisions (of the sedition law) are very wide. Anyone who speaks against the government can be booked under the sedition charge. Often the charge is found to be violative of Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution,” he said.
The minister informed the house that a Law Commission report in 1997 had admitted that the sedition law was defective, but did not ask for its deletion.
In 2006, the 156th report of the Law Commission also sought substitution of the word ”sedition” but did not ask for its deletion. He said: “Reports and suggestions have come that there should be a comprehensive review of the criminal justice system in the country… sedition law has also been brought under this scrutiny, that there must be some amendment to it because the meaning is very wide.”
Responding to the supplementaries, Rajnath Singh also agreed with the leader of opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad’s suggestion that speeches inciting communal feelings also should be included in the category of sedition. Singh said: “We agree 100 per cent; there should be action against those who divide on communal lines.”
The minister of state for home defended the government over the Jawaharlal Nehru University case, and clarified that the Centre was not involved in the filing of the sedition cases against leaders like Sitaram Yechury, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal who went to the campus. “The JNU case is sub judice; investigation is going on… How are you directly accusing the government of taking action against students? There are cases against these students. There are some cases against politicians also which were not filed in Delhi. It’s not the action of the government of India,” he added.
