Colonial legacy of sedition law cannot be overlooked: NIA court

Judge hopes Akhil Gogoi’s case based on insufficient evidence will be an exception for NIA that the country expects to set high standards

A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has said the colonial legacy of the sedition law cannot be overlooked while hoping that activist-MLA Akhil Gogoi’s case based on insufficient evidence would be an exception for the investigation agency that the country expects to set high standards. NIA Special Judge Pranjal Das made the observations while acquitting Mr. Gogoi and three others who were jailed on sedition charge and allegedly fomenting violence during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in December 2019. “Though the law of sedition continues in our statute book, its colonial legacy cannot be overlooked. Nevertheless, as long as it remains on the statute book in the present form, for enforcing the law on sedition, it is desirable for the investigating authorities to be continually trained to conform to the parameters of the law of sedition…,” the judge observed.