Sedition Rebranded Or Reform Realised? Unmasking The New Narrative Of Dissent Under Section 152 Of The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
- YourLawArticle
- 4 hours ago
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Authored by:
Satsang Kumar, LLM Scholar (Constitutional Law), Dr Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow
Abstract
The enactment of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 (hereinafter 'BNS'), which came into force on 1 July 2024, was presented by the government as a decisive departure from India's colonial legal inheritance. Central to that claim was the formal omission of the word 'sedition' and the repeal of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code 1860 (hereinafter 'IPC'), replaced by Section 152 of the BNS. This paper interrogates whether this legislative substitution represents genuine constitutional reform or an exercise in semantic rebranding — one that retains the substantive content of sedition law while shedding its politically inconvenient label. Drawing upon a comparative textual analysis of Section 124A IPC and Section 152 BNS, an examination of the constitutional jurisprudence spanning Kedar Nath Singh (1962) through to the Supreme Court's notice of August 2025, and a review of emerging trial court applications of Section 152, this paper argues that the new provision not only preserves the repressive core of the old sedition law but materially extends it. The paper assesses implications for Articles 19(1)(a) and 21 of the Constitution, critiques the adequacy of existing judicial safeguards in the light of the BNS's broader language, and concludes with reform recommendations grounded in the proportionality doctrine and comparative international practice. The judicial challenge to Section 152 now pending before the Supreme Court of India — admitted on notice by a bench led by the Hon'ble Chief Justice B R Gavai in August 2025 — vindicates the central concern that formal abolition of sedition can coexist with its substantive perpetuation through legislative redrafting.
Keywords: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Section 152 BNS, Section 124A IPC, Sedition, Free Speech, Article 19(1)(a), Kedar Nath Singh, Constitutional Validity, Civil Liberties, Dissent, Proportionality.
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