New Delhi: Supreme Court on Thursday describing the Sedition Law of British era as Colonial. The SC questioned whether the law was still necessary after 75 years of Independence. CJI Justice NV Ramana questioned do we still need the Sedition Law in our country after 75 years of Independence.

There is enormous misuse of the use of Sedition Law and is like giving a saw to the carpenter to cut a piece of wood and he uses it to cut the entire forest itself. That is the effect of this law said SC. Section 124A of the IPC on sedition to “a saw” used to cut a forest instead of a piece of wood, said a three judge bench headed by the Chief Justice NV Ramana, AS Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy.

If a police officer wants to fix anybody in a village for something, he can use Section 124 A, people are scared. It would examine the validity of the sedition law and asked the Centre to respond to a former army officer’s petition that says the law causes a chilling effect on speech and is an unreasonable restriction on free expression, said Court.

The dispute is it is a colonial law the very same law was used by the British to silence Mahatma Gandhi and to suppress the freedom movement. Is the law still necessary in the statute book in our country after 75 years of Independence? The court said several petitions have challenged the sedition law and all will be heard together. Our concern is misuse of the law and no accountability of the executive, said CJI.

The bench said we are not blaming any State or Government, but look at how Section 66A of the IT Act is continuing to be used, how many unfortunate people have suffered and there is no accountability for this. The Attorney General said the law need not be struck down and only guidelines could be set out so that it met its legal purpose. We will file our reply and that would lessen the burden of the Court, said Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.