New Delhi: Speaking at the award ceremony organised by the Indian chapter of the International Press Institute, former Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit said that fair criticism of the government cannot amount to sedition.
“Section 124A [of the Indian Penal Code for sedition] has always been a thorn in the flesh for all journalistic ventures,” he said, according to The Hindu.
“Fair criticism is the right of every individual, [it] is the cherished right of every journalist. I have every right to comment upon the policies and acts of the government. If I do that, then it is not sedition. Sedition is something bigger than that: inciting disaffection to incite rebellion. If I do something which is to highlight the problems by people and I put it across, it is not sedition,” Justice Lalit said, quoting freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
The retired judge also said that while the quality of journalism was improving, there was no change on the amount of pressure journalists were facing. “But the area where there has been no change is bit troubling. The assault on freedom of press is still continuing,” he said.
The IPI-India Award for Excellence in Journalism 2022 was given to The Print (for its stories on COVID-19 mismanagement) and NDTV journalist Saurabh Shukla (for his coverage of hate speech at a 2021 event in Haridwar). The winners were selected by a jury led by former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B. Lokur, and comprised IPI-India chairman and chairman of Kasturi & Sons Ltd. N. Ravi, former Press Trust of India editor M.K. Razdan and The Week chief associate editor Riyad Mathew.
Ravi too said in his speech that the sedition law must be removed for journalists to operate freely.
“These are trying times when free speech is under threat by State and non-State actors and we look to the courts to safeguard the right. There have been some disappointments, [such as] when the challenge to criminal defamation failed. In the case of sedition, however, the Supreme Court has kept the law in abeyance,” he said, according to The Hindu.
“Sedition is a colonial era law under which leaders across the political spectrum starting with Tilak through Savarkar, Gandhi, Nehru and Patel were arrested. It is time sedition was removed from the statute books, taking advantage of the Supreme Court’s stay,” he continued.