NEW DELHI: One of the key changes proposed in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, is doing away with the much-misused Section 124A of the existing Indian Penal Code, which deals with the rather loosely defined offence of “sedition”.The proposed law still provides for stiff punishment for “secessionist, armed rebellion and subversive activities” aimed against the country’s sovereignty as well as its unity and integrity.However, there’s an attempt in the proposal to differentiate between criticism and peaceful protests against the government of the day from subversion, secession and armed rebellion against the Indian state.

An official said the new law will be known as “deshdroh” (treason) and not “rajdroh”, which referred to the British crown.

Offences under the much-abused sedition law, as it exists now, attract imprisonment for life or up to three years’ jail term, to which a fine could be added.

Under the proposed law, offences shall be punished with imprisonment for life or with a prison term that may extend to seven years and can include a fine.Explanation to section on new law replacing sedition appears incompleteUnder the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill, the law to replace sedition proposes that whoever, by words, signs, electronic communication or by use of financial means, excites or “attempts to excite, secession or armed rebellion or subversive activities, or encourages feelings of separatist activities or endangers sovereignty or unity and integrity of India; or indulges in or commits any such act shall be punished…”.Currently, Section 124A of IPC defines sedition as an offence committed when “any person 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 established by law in India”, a formulation that was seen as ambiguous and used by overzealous police personnel to clamp down on critics of governments of all stripes.Announcing the government’s proposal to repeal Section 124A in toto, home minister Amit Shah on Friday told Lok Sabha that the sedition provision should have no place in a democracy like India.“Everybody has the right and freedom to speak his or her mind,” he stated.

However, the explanation to the section, which appeared to convey that it will not apply to protests against measures of the government so long they don’t constitute secession, subversion or an armed aggression, appeared incomplete with the words “do not constitute an offence under this section” missing from the text.

The demand to drop the sedition law, slammed by many as a colonial vestige and a law often misused by governments to suppress freedom of speech and dissent, has seen debates and was also the subject of several court cases over the years.Importantly, the Law Commission of India had, in a report submitted only a few months back, not only favoured retention of Section 124A but also recommended enhancing the jail term in sedition cases from a minimum three years to seven years.

This came even as the government had dropped hints of its intent to review the sedition law as part of the larger exercise to review the IPC, CrPC and Indian Evidence Act.

In May last year, the SC had ruled that the sedition trials be paused and no new FIRs be registered under Section 124A while the government re-examines the provision.

As per data compiled by NCRB, between 2014 and 2021, 428 sedition cases and 634 arrests on charges of sedition were recorded.

Conviction rate under sedition cases during the period ranged from as low as 3.3% in 2019 to 33.3% in 2020.WatchBritish era Sedition Law to be repealed, Home Minister Amit Shah makes big announcement