Process to reconsider sedition law has started, Centre tells SC

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has submitted in the Supreme Court that the central government has started the process to reconsider the sedition law in India.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Tuesday, May 10, told the Supreme Court that the Centre was in the process of reconsidering the sedition law. Mehta’s submission came during a hearing on the Constitutional validity of the sedition law.

Mehta was replying to a question by a CJI NV Ramana-led three-judge bench. “How much time would the Centre take to reconsider the sedition law,” the bench asked.

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The SG replied: “It is difficult to predict a time frame. But the process has started. You must see the tenor of the affidavit. It's not just coming from the department. There is application of mind.”

The SC has asked the Centre to clear its stand on pending sedition cases by tomorrow morning.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner, said: “It is their entitlement and privilege to change the law but we have challenged the current law. It is the jurisdiction of the executive to make a decision and the jurisdiction of the legislature to make laws. But it is for this court to consider.”

Sibal said: “My suggestion is that even if they change the law, there are pending prosecutions and arrests. They have to be decided on the current law.”