Those presiding over Law Commission wanting to strengthen sedition law is dangerous

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*
The Law Commission has given a report to government of India suggesting that anti Sedition law should be further strengthened and penalty must be made more stringent. So penalise people for this 'crime' to life imprisonment. The maximum penalty for Sedition is set at three years at the moment. In the last 10 years, this provision was used mostly against the intellectuals and dissenters of this government who were blamed as 'urban naxals' and 'anti national'.

Most of the legal luminaries including many former judges have actually asked for complete abrogation of this law as they feel no modern democracy can allow such dangerous laws to punish the political dissenters. In democracy, dissent and disagreement are part as long as everyone stick to rule based order which also stick to modern human rights perspective, respect international laws and treaties.

One can understand that the demand from the 'devotees' of our prime minister and his government, that this law should be strengthened with more stringent provisions but when this come from a person who is chairperson of the Law Commission then it is a warning. It is an indication in which direction the win is blowing and what is the government thinking.

That a man presiding over Law Commission could give such a report which can ultimately overthrow the whole idea of democracy is dangerous and I hope judiciary will be watching this that there are people in their fraternity who may not like the very idea of 'constitutional democracy'. Look at what have been presented to us in the form of judgement and any fair person would feel extremely disturbed. At least no one can be proud of such judgements which do not have constitutional basis.
When the Law Commission report was made public, we saw another 'landmark' judgement from 'Allahabad High Court'. A single judge bench was listening to the matter of 'rape' which was basically the relationship between two individuals and the boy refused to marry the girl because according to him the girl was 'Mangalik'. The Judge Saheb asked the authority to verify from known astrologers whether that was true. Is not it offending.

Whether one is Mangalik or not is not the issue when one decides the case of marital or personal disputes. Giving bail or no bail should be done purely on legal constitutional back ground but judge Saheb brought astrologers into the picture to decide the case. Is it a slip of tongue judgement or it is the trend because of the mediocre political affiliation that are ultimately working to get into the judiciary. Whatever is the issue, we can definitely not feel proud of such judgement.
This is the most unfortunate part when judgements are based not on the grounds of legality as per our constitution but more and more they are 'speeches' and 'personal beliefs' of the individual giving judgement. This is dangerous.

How can a person can be held guilty by one judge and not so guilty by the other. Law and judgements have become highly subjective based on who is the judge and his political thoughts. Hence, it is important that critical issues should not be left to single judge benches otherwise we will see judgements like Female peacock getting impregnated by tears and not by mating with the male partner.
Whether it is law commission report or the Allahabad High Court judgement or any other court speaking against various provisions in law, they are matter of great concern as how Constitutional protection measures are being broken into pieces by those who need to protect it. I hope the Supreme Court will take note of it and issue necessary guidelines. Time has come for the Chief Justice of India to send a critical note to fellow judges of the high court regarding this so that respect and regard for the judiciary remain intact.
---

*Human rights defender

Comments

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

Search This Blog