Sedition laws: Freedom fetters

Freedom of speech is a natural right which is acquired by a human being through birth. The freedom of speech occupies an indispensable position in the hierarchy of liberty, more so regarded as the first condition of liberty. It can be rightfully labelled as the mother of all other liberties. The essence of free speech is the ability to think and speak freely or to obtain information from others through publications or public discourse without any fear of retribution, restriction, or repression.

However, in the present Indian scenario, it is surprisingly convenient to silent people who have the courage to disagree and dissent. An overlapping network of corrupt and inefficient justice system in addition to vague and overbroad laws have given birth to an environment where speech can be expeditiously censored. One of such laws that curb the freedom of speech is sedition. While sedition laws are a piece of bigger system of colonial laws that are now used liberally by the governments to control and restrict free speech, the specificity of them lies in the language of ‘disaffection’ and severity of the punishment associated with them.

After every such incident what the society is left with is a grave question about the validity of such laws in a modern day constitution leaving a disgraceful situation for the world's largest democracy. After independence, the sedition law has been modified and interpreted to maintain constitutional sprit & norms. However, it still acts as an effective means to restrict free speech guaranteed by the Constitution provisions, and has been used by government's authorities with biased approach.