Loyalty, Liberty, and the Law: Analysing the Juxtaposition of Nation and Citizen in the Indian Sedition Law

Abstract

This article examines the Indian sedition law laid out in Section 124(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which criminalises expression of disaffection towards the government. It analyses the functions of the sedition law in colonial and constitutional India. Rather than taking a legal approach to examine whether the sedition law is inimical to democracy, this socio-legal analysis studies the media and political discourse around sedition cases to evoke an underlying pattern of the use of the law across time and political regimes. It reveals how the law has been used in contemporary India to weave a narrative of the nation-state and national interests, often pitted against human rights and individual liberties. It goes on to argue that in post-colonial India, the law has simultaneously been critical in building a binding national identity while also enabling nationalism to be used as a political instrument that can subversively monitor and discipline citizens.