The Opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday demanded the scrapping of the sedition law, reported PTI. It also questioned why Jawaharlal Nehru University students Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were charged with sedition. Responding to the Opposition's demands, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said the government favoured a comprehensive review of the sedition legislation, adding that the Law Commission of India was looking into the matter.
In a separate development, the Patiala House Court in Delhi reserved its order on Khalid and Bhattacharya’s bail petition for March 18. At the hearing, the students' counsel said Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code, under which a person is charged with sedition, does not apply to this case, adding that citizens have the right to criticise the government and that censure cannot be deemed sedition. The counsel also said that the Delhi government's report had suggested that video footage of the controversial February 9 event at JNU, where anti-national slogans were reportedly raised, had been doctored. In response, the counsel for the Delhi Police, who opposed the students’ bail plea, said their case did not depend on video footage alone, but also relied on statements of 10 independent witnesses, reported ANI.
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