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- The Union Home Ministry has clarified that section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code known as the sedition law will not be scrapped.
- The minister said that the section was needed to effectively combat anti-national, secessionist and terrorist elements.
- Section 124-A deal with the offence of sedition.The concept of sedition was introduced in the penal code in 1870.It was a colonial law directed against strong criticism of the British administration.
- The term sedition covers speech or writing or any form of visible representation which brings the government into hatred or contempt or excite disaffection towards the government or attempts to do so.It is punishable with three years in prison or a life term.
- It further states expressing disapproval of government measures or actions with a view to getting them changed by lawful means without promoting hatred or disaffection or contempt towards the government will not come under this section.
- The activists have been demanding the scrapping of Section 124A on the grounds that the provision under the section is overbroad which means it defines the offence in wide terms threatening the liberty of citizens.
