Throughout the Raj, the section was used to suppress political dissent in favour of independence, including Lokmanya Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi, both of whom were found guilty and imprisoned.
Sedition was made a cognisable offence for the first time in history in India, during the tenure of PM Indira Gandhi in 1973, that is, arrest without a police warrant was now permissible.
[1][2] In 1962 the Supreme Court of India interpreted the section to apply only if there is, say, "incitement to violence" or "overthrowing a democratically elected government through violent means".
It was finally added in 1870 on the suggestion of James Fitzjames Stephen, at the time handling legal issues in the colonial Government of India.
[6] Due to increasing Wahabi activities, and fearing that Muslim preachers would incite religious war in the Indian subcontinent, the Raj introduced this section under the title "Exciting disaffection".
[6] A case in 1958, Ram Nandan v State, heard by the Allahabad High Court declared the sedition law void.
[9] A Supreme Court judgment in 1962 brought back sedition into the Constitution, interpreting the section to say that it only applies if there is "incitement to violence".
[10][2] Sedition was made cognizable for the first time during the tenure of Indira Gandhi via the 1973 Code of Criminal Procedure (CR.P.C) which replaced the 1898 CRPC.
The authorities put forth a claim that Bose had incited rebellion; in his instructions to the jury, the Chief Justice William Comer Petheram explained the meaning of "disaffection" as "a feeling contrary to affection, in other words, dislike or hatred" and linked it with disobedience towards the government.
[14] Despite the verdict, this trial, according to historian Mithi Mukherjee, "marked a fundamental discursive rupture in the history of empire and paved the way for mass anticolonial movements under the leadership of Gandhi.
[23] On 15 July 2021, the Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana drew attention to the fact that the rate of conviction under sedition is very low and that this law has been misused by the executive powers.
When the First Amendment of the Constitution of India was passed in 1951, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru proposed to "get rid of it [Section 124A]" as written, and favoured handling sedition-related by other means.
The Indian Women Press Corps (IWPC) also has said:“We have noticed, with dismay, a growing trend in India in recent times where both central and state governments have routinely slapped sedition charges on journalists for articles, tweets, Facebook posts that criticise government policies…In January 2021, IWPC founder member Mrinal Pande and some other journalists were booked for sedition for tweets relating to farmers’ protest.” [33]The Press Club of India has condemned the use of this law by state governments against senior journalists for the coverage of the farmers protests.
[25] The following laws in India address the same aspects covered by the sedition law—[35] Numerous critics, students,[36][37] former government employees including Indian Police Service and Indian Administrative Service officers,[38] legal thinkers and judges,[39][40][41] scholars,[42] human rights and civil liberty advocates,[43] journalists,[43] and so on have commented against the sedition law, calling for it to be scrapped or undergo amendments.
[44] As of 2024 Sedition clause of Indian Penal Code has been repealed and replaced with Section 147 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita which describes treason against the government.