Law, Dissent, and the State Constitutional Limits on Sedition and Preventive Detention in India

Abstract

This paper will discuss the changing constitutional association between legislation, dissent and the state power in India with specific attention to the judicial review of sedition and the proliferation of preventive detention. It evaluates how the suspension of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code under the Indian constitution by the Supreme Court was a critical event in the re-evaluation of the colonial penal codes in the presence of a democratic constitutional system. Concurrently, the paper examines the rising trend of relying on preventive detention in Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, under which legislation of national security has played a prime role in controlling political dissent. The paper will assess the issue of judicial review as to whether judges have played any role in limiting executive overreach or whether preventive detention has become normalized as a form of governance through a doctrinal analysis and secondary data gathered on the subject. The results indicate that there is an imbalanced constitutional reaction, with symbolic progress in the protection of free speech alongside the increasing establishment of preventive detention, with civil liberties and democratic accountability as a concern.