Browsing by Subject "Sedition"

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Open Access
Defining the Scope of Hate Speech: A Comparative Jurisprudential Approach
(University of North Bengal, 2024) Shams, Rahemeen; Sarkar, Subhradipta
The concept of hate speech has been in debate for many years, and it has received immense attention in the recent past. With the advent of the internet, the content is reaching more swiftly to the audience than ever before, having greater implications. Laws have been enacted both in the international and national spheres to regulate the menacing effect of hate speech. Nevertheless, such antihate speech laws have been continuously challenged as they violate the right to free speech and expression. Supra-national courts like the European Court of Human Rights as well as the courts in other democracies have considered various aspects and tried building up jurisprudence in this regard. India is no exception to such phenomena and has witnessed a surge in such incidents in recent times. Wherein in many cases, the State has turned blind eye to the serious ramification that such speeches were capable of, in other instances, it has incarcerated people indiscriminately, accusing them of making speeches amounting to sedition. Prohibition against hate speech has found references in various laws and the judiciary has long played a pivotal role through balancing acts. Besides defining ‘hate speech’, this research paper has attempted sketching the limits of hate speech by reconciling Indian jurisprudence with the ones developed by the courts abroad.
Open Access
Sedition: Prince Closing Up on Kingship
(University of North Bengal, 2023-09) Singh, Guru Prasad
In May 2022, the Hon'ble Apex Court recently ordered that the colonial-era sedition law under Sec. 124A of the Indian Penal Code should be kept in abeyance until the Centre has reconsidered it. In this context, it becomes pertinent to submit that the history of the law relating to sedition in India is very tainted. The law that was once used to prosecute some of our greatest freedom fighters still exists today in our statute book. In free India, when some of the High Courts had started declaring the law's unconstitutionality, it was finally the turn of our Apex Court to show up and uphold its constitutionality. The survival of this provision in free India in the paradigm of parameters set out in Part III of the Constitution is a fascinating and problematic story. This research work traces the origin of Sedition Law in the Indian Penal Code and also elaborates upon its survival in the post–constitutional regime. There has been a drastic increase in Sedition cases recently, and suppressing dissent and discourse during Covid-19 has reminded us of the misuse of this law against one of our greatest freedom fighters, viz. Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Is it a situation where the saw given to the carpenter to cut a piece of wood has been used to clear the entire forest? In light of the Apex Court's stand that it is high time we have to decide the limits of sedition, this research paper would be a needful inquiry into the same.