SC turns down PIL challenging sedition law; says will listen if aggrieved party before it

The Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a group of lawyers challenging the constitutional validity of Section 124-A of the IPC which deals with charges of sedition.

A bench led by CJI SA Bobde told the petitioners that they had no cause of action, and the court could consider the matter if the aggrieved party was before them.

The petitioners, in the alternative, pleaded for directions to state DGPs to strictly implement the constitution bench decision in the Kedarnath case in which Supreme Court had watered down the sedition law.

The bench, however, dismissed the petition observing there was no cause of action to entertain the plea.

Plea stated that a colonial provision like section 124A should not be permitted to continue in a democratic republic.