New Delhi: The law on sedition is under review of the Law Commission and the home ministry has asked for a report on the issue as soon as possible, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Rijiju also admitted in the upper house that the 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 established by the law can be booked under the sedition law,” Rijiju said in response to a question.
“Often the sedition charge is found to be violative of Article 19(1)(a), freedom of speech and expression,” he said.
Asking supplementaries to the question raised by Shiv Sena member Anil Desai, Leader of opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad sought that inciting of communal sentiments should be included in the law, while Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav demanded that the law be scrapped.
The minister informed the upper 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.
“… 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,” he said.
Rijiju said the government wants the Law Commission to take steps as soon as possible to address this law.
“There are cases and concerns are being raised. That is why I would like to quote the reports and we would like to see that the Law Commission takes steps as early as possible so that the concerns raised in the country are addressed,” the union minister said. (IANS)
