In this episode of National Security Conversations, Happymon Jacob discusses the colonial origins and the post-colonial evolution of the sedition law with Anushka Singh, author of Sedition in Liberal Democracies and assistant professor and Ambedkar University, Delhi.

A hundred and fifty years since the imposition of the sedition law in colonial India, the discussion probes whether the law is used to stifle free speech and political opposition in contemporary India. The discussion brings out the contrast between the popular conceptions of ‘sedition’ in the country and the higher judiciary’s views on the same.

The discussion also explores how the sedition law eventually made it to the constitution, despite most Constituent Assembly members viewing it as a repressive colonial law. The author argues that while the conviction rate is negligible when it comes to those charged under the controversial law, the process itself is the punishment.

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