{"id":110584,"date":"2021-06-05T10:03:11","date_gmt":"2021-06-05T04:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=110584"},"modified":"2021-06-05T10:03:11","modified_gmt":"2021-06-05T04:33:11","slug":"significance-of-the-kedar-nath-singh-judgment-on-sedition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/significance-of-the-kedar-nath-singh-judgment-on-sedition\/","title":{"rendered":"Significance of the Kedar Nath Singh Judgment on Sedition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The significance of <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sedition-law-in-india-arguments-for-and-against\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kedar Nath Singh judgment for sedition cases<\/a> was once again highlighted in the recent Vinod Dua sedition case. The 1962 judgment upheld Section-124A of the Indian Penal Code, but it significantly narrowed down the provision.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The SC struck down a sedition case filed under Section-124 A of the <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indian-penal-code\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Indian Penal Code<\/a> (IPC) against <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/journalists-need-protection-against-sedition-charges-supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">journalist Vinod Dua<\/a>.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The case was filed over Dua\u2019s comments on his YouTube channel in which he criticized the government.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He was charged under sections 124A (sedition), 268 (public nuisance), 501 (printing matter known to be defamatory) and 505 (statements conducive to public mischief) of the IPC.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The SC ruled that <strong>every journalist is entitled to protection under the Kedar Nath Singh judgment<\/strong> and thereby dismissed the sedition charges.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>What is Section 124A of IPC?<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/what-is-sedition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sedition<\/a> is defined as any action that brings or attempts to bring contempt or hatred towards the government of India. Sedition cases are punishable with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was inserted into IPC in 1870. The section was introduced initially to deal with increasing Wahabi activities between 1863 and 1870. These activities posed a challenge to the colonial government.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Facts of Kedarnath Singh v State of Bihar (1962) case:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kedar Nath was booked for sedition for a seditious speech during his rally at Begusarai.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his speech, he equated elected congress representatives with local goondas (goons). He called for taking back the rule through a general revolution and reducing capitalists, zamindars and Congress into ashes. The aim was to establish a government of the poor and the downtrodden people of India.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He was convicted for sedition by a lower court, and later he appealed in SC over the <strong>constitutional validity of Section 124A.<\/strong> As per the appeal, Section-124A violated the right to free speech under Article 19 of the constitution.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>SC&#8217;s ruling in Kedar Nath case:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It <strong>upheld the constitutional validity<\/strong> of <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-what-is-section-124a-of-ipc-do-you-think-it-should-be-scrapped-from-indias-law-book\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Section-124A<\/a> however it restricted its scope for misuse.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>What constitutes sedition?<\/strong> &#8211; It said that any act which has an effect of subverting the Government by<\/span><b> violent means<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or creating public disorder would come within the definition of sedition.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>What is not sedition?<\/strong> &#8211; However, mere disapproval of the measures of government with a view to demanding their improvement or alteration by lawful means is not sedition.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Right to criticize<\/strong>: the Court agreed that a citizen has a right to say or write whatever he likes about the Government, or its measures, by way of criticism or comment. <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Limitations<\/strong>: Provided it does not incite people to <strong>violence<\/strong> against the Government established by law or with the intention of creating <strong>public disorder<\/strong>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The court deduced that Kedarnath\u2019s speech gave a general reference to revolution and the element of inciting violence against the government was absent. Therefore, he was acquitted of sedition charges.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-kedar-nath-singh-judgment-the-1962-verdict-sc-quoted-in-vinod-dua-sedition-case-7343003\/\">The Indian Express<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: The significance of Kedar Nath Singh judgment for sedition cases was once again highlighted in the recent Vinod Dua sedition case. The 1962 judgment upheld Section-124A of the Indian Penal Code, but it significantly narrowed down the provision. Background: The SC struck down a sedition case filed under Section-124 A of the Indian Penal&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/significance-of-the-kedar-nath-singh-judgment-on-sedition\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Significance of the Kedar Nath Singh Judgment on Sedition<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,1351,1310,9],"tags":[1435],"class_list":["post-110584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-daily-news","category-daily-news-updates","category-public","tag-sec_5","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":11,"cached_at":1698361338,"cached_date":1698432474},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}