India’s Sedition Law and Media Freedom

Two orders given by India's Supreme Court in two separate cases early this month have, once again, brought into sharp focus the issue of the colonial-era law relating to sedition in the context of media freedom. Both cases involve journalists and their reporting.

One of the cases relates to the booking of two journalists of Telugu language news channels under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for telecasting a speech by a dissident leader of Andhra Pradesh's ruling YSR Congress Party, which allegedly spread disaffection with the state government. The other case pertains to an FIR filed against noted journalist Vinod Dua, who was accused of having made remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government's handling of the migrant labour crisis during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. In the hearings in both cases, the top court has made important observations which have a strong bearing on media freedom and the future of the sedition law.