New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to reply by tomorrow whether the filing of cases under sedition law in future could be kept at abeyance till re-examination. A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana also sought the Centre's reply if people charged under sedition could be protected while the colonial-era law was being reviewed.
On Monday, the government told the Supreme Court not to invest time in examining the validity of the sedition law as it had decided to go for reconsideration of the provisions by a "competent forum".
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said that he would take instructions from the government and apprise the Supreme Court bench on Wednesday, PTI reported.
"We are making it very clear. We want instructions. We will give you time till tomorrow. Our specific queries are: one about pending cases and the second, as to how the government will take care of future cases," the Supreme Court said.
The court suggested the Centre to complete the task of reconsideration of sedition law within 3-4 months. The court also said there were concerns that sedition law was being misused and asked the Centre on how it would address the issue.
"The state says they are re-examining. But we cannot be unreasonable. We will have to decide how much time has to be given. Can someone stay in jail for months? Your affidavit says civil liberties. How will you protect those liberties," Chief Justice Ramana said.
The lawyer for the petitioners, Gopal Sankaranarayan, said it was becoming a "pattern" with the government to seek more time to delay important cases.
The Home Ministry, in an affidavit filed before the apex court on Tuesday, said the decision to reconsider and re-examine the sedition law was in tune with the views of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on shedding colonial baggage. The affidavit said PM Modi was in favour of the protection of civil liberties and respect of human rights and over 1,500 outdated laws and over 25,000 compliance burdens had been scrapped.
A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli on May 5 said it would hear arguments on the legal question of whether the pleas challenging the sedition law be referred to a larger bench for reconsidering the 1962 verdict of a five-judge constitution bench in the Kedar Nath Singh case. The top court, in 1962, upheld the validity of the sedition law while attempting to restrict its scope for misuse.
(With inputs from PTI)