Of late, several instances have come to our view where people have used social media as a matter of freedom of speech but have then faced trials of sedition set against them. The clash between the Sedition law and Article 19 of the Constitution of India is not new. But, the recent uprise in these issues have started creating disturbances. In June, 2021, The Supreme Court on Monday expressed concern at the regularity with which sedition charges were slapped against print and electronic media for publishing views critical of the establishment and said it would decide the ambit of the colonial-era provision in the Indian Penal Code keeping in view the media’s right to free speech and expression.[1]

The issues of abuse of media have become extremely prevalent these days and when the judiciary acts as a guardian for the State, it cannot use the sedition law (Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code) to silence people who dissent or to remove the power of speech of the opposition. It is necessary for the Courts to keep in mind that Section 124A can be invoked only in rare cases where there is an actual threat to the national integrity.

In August 2016, the police arrested a Kashmiri engineer on the grounds of sedition, for ‘liking’ and posting a series of Facebook posts which called for India to withdraw from Kashmir.[2] In August, 2017, a man was arrested for posting ‘I support Pakistan’. In order to understand whether or not these qualify as cases of sedition, it is necessary to understand the provision. Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code states as follows:

“Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government estab­lished by law in India, shall be punished [...]”.

Explanation 1 to Section 124A states that ‘disaffection’ includes “disloyalty and all feelings of enmity”. Explanation 2 clarifies that comments which disapprove government measures/actions and administrative measures (without exciting or attempting to excite hatred/contempt/disaffection towards the government) do not constitute sedition.”

In the above-stated instances, there is no sign of inciting enmity and post like those are just an expression of one’s opinion. However, it all zeroes down to the Court’s interpretation of the law and implementation of the same. While there is a need to re-examine the law on sedition in India, it is also important to clarify how sedition law applies to social media users in the country.[3] In the absence of a landmark judgment on this issue, it is essential for the government to be active and set out certain guidelines to law enforcement agencies with regards to the implementation of the law of sedition towards speech on social media.