The Supreme Court on Thursday decided to consider whether a seven-judge constitution bench should examine the validity of the sedition law although attorney-general K.K. Venugopal had opposed the idea and, instead, sought court-mandated guidelines to prevent the law’s misuse.
Venugopal, who was assisting the court in the matter, clarified that “my stand may differ with that of the Union of India”.
Solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, remained non-committal on the government’s stance saying it had to be considered by the “competent authority”.
The bench of Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli fixed the next hearing for 2pm on May 10 while making it clear that “no further adjournment would be granted”.
A batch of petitions has sought quashing of the sedition law, IPC 124A, citing its increasing misuse by various governments. A five-judge bench had in 1962 upheld the law’s validity.
