Views of the Supreme Court

♤ In 1962, the Supreme Court in Kedar Nath Singh vs. State of Bihar upheld Section 124A and held that it struck a “correct balance” between fundamental rights and the need for public order.

♤ The court had significantly reduced the scope of Sedition law to only those cases where there is incitement to imminent violence towards overthrow of the state.

♤ Further, the Court held that it is not mere against government of the day but the institutions as symbol of state.

♤ Various verdicts in Romesh Thappar, Kanahiya Kumar case re- defined a seditious act only if it had essential ingredients as:

o Disruption of public order,

o Attempt to violently overthrow a lawful government,

o Threatening the security of State or of public