THE Supreme Court on June 3 quashed a sedition case against journalist Vinod Dua in Shimla. The case was filed by a local BJP leader in Himachal Pradesh on May 6, 2020, over Dua's YouTube show. It invoked charges under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including sedition, public nuisance, printing defamatory materials and public mischief. The complaint alleged that Dua in his show had accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using deaths and terror attacks” to get votes.
The bench of Justices UU Lalit and Vineet Saran said: “Every journalist is entitled to protection under the Kedar Nath Singh judgment (the famous verdict of 1962 on the scope and ambit of offence of sedition in the IPC).” It said that every prosecution under Sections 124A and 505 of the IPC must be in strict conformity with the scope and ambit of said Sections as explained in, and completely in tune with the law laid down in Kedar Nath Singh.
In the Kedar Nath Singh case in 1962, five judges said that “allegedly seditious speech and expression may be punished only if the speech is an 'incitement to 'violence, or “public disorder. It had upheld the validity of Section 124A (sedition) of the IPC, and said that sedition charges could not be invoked against a citizen for criticism of government actions as it would be in conformity with the freedom of speech and expression.
However, the Court did not allow the second prayer made by Dua in his petition that no FIR be registered against a person belonging to the media with at least 10 years of experience unless cleared by a Committee. The Court said that constitution of the committee completely outside the scope of the statutory framework. Any relief granted in terms of the second prayer would certainly, in our view, amounts to encroachment upon the filed reserved for the legislature”.
This story is from the January 10, 2022 edition of India Legal.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the January 10, 2022 edition of India Legal.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
PIL, Difficult To Swallow?
In a recent ruling, the Bombay High Court lamented the increasing number of frivolous public interest litigations being filed in courts and echoed the sentiments of the Supreme Court that such litigations are the bane of the judicial system. Is there any way to restrict their misuse?
Till Infertility Do Us Part...
The Calcutta High Court slammed a husband for initiating divorce proceedings due to his wife's infertility and asked him to be a pillar of support for her. Courts have often taken an empathetic view in such matters
IS THAT LEGAL?
Ignorance of law is no excuse. Here are answers to frequently asked queries regarding matters that affect us on a day-to-day basis
The Big Lie
In America, The Big Lie is an idiom used by Donald Trump's opponents and the media to describe his constant gripe about election fraud. Now, it seems more suited to another Republican, Congressman George Santos (right), who has been facing growing calls to resign after he admitted fabricating parts of his resume and biography since his election in New York last year.
Flying into the Sunset
Over 50 years since the first and original jumbo jet, the Boeing 747, took to the skies and revolutionized air travel, the last of the legendary aircraft (right) was delivered to a freight charter company, bringing down the curtain on one of aviation's most successful products.
Star Crossed
Actor and producer Alec Baldwin is a Hollywood legend, having starred in a range of movies, award winning TV sitcoms, and theatre. He was most recently seen in Mission Impossible Fallout, which is an apt description of his current situation.
Walkouts in the UK
An estimated half a million workers have gone on strike, shutting down thousands of schools, public transport and border disruption. It is the biggest day of industrial action for more than a decade.
Myanmar's Misery
Two years after the military coup ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the brutal crackdown by the junta on so-called \"insurgents\" and civilian protesters has reached a new level with the use of air strikes, a new and deadly tactic in the ongoing civil war.
AMERICA'S ANGST
From messy, divisive politics to a series of mass shootings, and now black officers brutally beating another black man to death as seen in bodycam videos, America's domestic convulsions are cause for serious introspection
JUSTICE LEAGUE
There are few judicial appointment procedures in the world that are completely bereft of the overarching presence of either the executive or the legislature, or both. In the end, the judge is left with all the powers vested in him/her by the constitution to uphold the rule of law, within an atmosphere of external influences
