New Delhi, May 11, 2022: Indian Journalists Union (IJU) welcomes the decision of the Supreme Court of India to keep application of sedition law in abeyance. Journalists Union of Assam an affiliate of IJU along with others challenged section 124(A) of the Indian Penal Code as the law is being extensively used against independent media by the authorities. A special bench comprising Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, Justice Surya Kant and Justice Hima Kohli held that all pending cases, appeals and proceedings with respect to charges framed under Section 124A should be kept in abeyance.

Geetartha Pathak, President of IJU and former member of Press Council of India and IJU Secretary General and Vice President of International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Sabina Inderjit said in a statement that the decision of the apex court will initiate a process to put an end to the century old draconian law that has been used by the powers that be to muzzle the voice of dissent.

IJU hopes that the government of India will revisit and review the sedition law and scrap the draconian law enacted by the British to suppress the Independent struggle against the colonial rulers. IJU thanks senior advocate Chander Uday Singh, the team of lawyers of Internet Freedom Foundation that pleaded the case in the SC on behalf of our affiliate Journalists Union of Assam.