Unlocking justice(Indian Express)

• Mains Paper 2:Polity 
• Prelims level: Sedition Laws
• Mains level: Challenges to the use of Sedition Law

Context:

• Individuals against whom cases of sedition have been filed in recent months, for protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens in particular, may be facing a double injustice, in the justice process.

Denying Justice:

• As a report in this paper has brought to light, amid a public health emergency in which courts are hearing only “urgent” cases through video-conferencing, bail pleas filed in these cases are not being defined as such.
• That these people, like 19-year-old Amulya Leona, arrested in February by Bengaluru police under Section 124 of the IPC for raising “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans at an anti-CAA rally, are languishing in custody, their bail pleas unheard, is the second injustice.
• The first, as another report in this paper underlined in February, predatesthe pandemic:

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Misuse of Sedition Laws:

• A scrutinyof 25-odd arrests made on charges of sedition in UP, Karnataka and Assam since the anti-CAA protests began, threw up a soberingpattern of police custody granted by courts, no questions asked, no reasons given, or after the most perfunctoryhearings.
• While the Supreme Court has upheld the colonial-era sedition law, it has also read the provision restrictively, saying only seditious “speech tended to incite public disorder” was punishable.
• The apex court has emphasised that clear and immediate incitement to violence is necessary for making the offence of sedition.

Courts not acting:

• The apparent languorof the courts, the evidentlack of rigour or urgency, in cases where it would appear that the government is criminalising acts of protest by slapping serious charges on them, is troubling.
• It is disquietingif the pandemic becomes a cover to delay or deny the weak and the vulnerable their day in court, their fundamental right to bail.
• Ever since people’s protests began across the country against the CAA and the proposed NRC, the BJP-led government at the Centre has, deservedly, invited accusations of intolerance of views different from its own.
• The government did not just turn a deaf ear to the protesters, it also attempted to subdue them, including by wielding the sedition law. This has cast a greater responsibility on the court.

Conclusion:

• The courts are the time-tested recoursefor upholding and safeguarding constitutional protections for the citizens’ freedom of expression, including and especially the liberty to dissent.
• They must not show, nor be seen to show, a lack of alacrityin performing their vital role.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1)With reference to the ‘FAITH’ trials, consider the following statements:
1. Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. will conduct ‘FAITH’ trials to test combined efficacy of two antiviral drugs — Favipiravir and Umifenovxir — as potential COVID-19 treatment strategy.
2. The two antiviral drugs combination may demonstrate improved treatment efficacy by effectively tackling high viral loads in patients during early stages of the disease.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer..............

CLICK HERE FOR FULL EDITORIAL (Only for Course Members)

Mains Questions:
Q.1)What are the major challenges with the Sedition Laws?