Advocacy group Common Cause, through senior lawyer Prashan Bhushan, has approached the Supreme Court against the “misuse and misapplication” of sedition laws, reported The Indian Express. After filing the petition, Bhushan tweeted, "With rampant misuse of Sedition law, we have filed PIL to ensure there’s incitement to violence for charging sedition (sic)." Bhushan is a member of the organisation's Governing Council.

According to the NGO, the law is being misused and sedition charges are being framed against citizens to "instill fear and scuttle dissent". This, they said, goes against the widely accepted interpretation of sedition in the constitution, according to livelaw.in.

The move comes two days after Amnesty International's Bangalore unit was booked on sedition charges for an event they had organised highlighting rights abuses in Kashmir. A case was filed against the advocacy group after members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad complained that the event was "anti-national". However, the NGO issued a statement on Tuesday denying the charges, which they said were "without substance".