Genesis of Section 124A https://countercurrents.org/2022/06/understanding-sedition/
The so-called Great Indian Rebellion, also called the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny by the British, happened during the rule of the English East India Company. This upset the British Parliament sufficiently, to cause the ruling British monarch Queen Victoria, to issue a proclamation in 1858 that India would be governed by and in the name of “the Crown”. Thereby, the British Territory of India and the British Government of India, were both embodied in the ruling British Monarch. Every Indian had the political status of being a subject of the ruling British Monarch.
The British used Sedition law primarily to suppress writings, speeches and protests of prominent Indian nationalists and freedom fighters, howsoever they expressed dissent with British colonial rule. Thus, Section 124A was all about British control over Indian subjects. The British used surveillance and police intelligence agencies to detect, trace and punish what they saw as incitement to rebellion against British rule.
Eminent lawyer K.M.Munshi, who was also a member of the Drafting Committee, spoke [7:64:164 & 7:64:167]: “… the word ‘sedition’ is of doubtful and varying import … it is an equivocal word”. Munshi argued that the word “sedition” should be removed from the Draft Constitution, because “… it is a word which has created considerable doubt in the minds of not only members of this House, but of Courts of Law all over the world”. He also spoke that sedition “… was sometimes so widely construed” that criticism of a District Magistrate was considered as sedition, and presciently said:“… sedition cannot be invoked to minister to the wounded vanity of government”, and “… now that we have a democratic government, a line must be drawn between criticism of a government which should be welcome, and incitement which would undermine the security or order on which civilised life is based, or which is calculated to overthrow the State”.
18/06/2022
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