Kedar Nath Singh case
Also called: Kedar Nath Singh v. State of Bihar (1962) · Topic: Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Remedies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Kedar Nath Singh v. State of Bihar (1962) is a Supreme Court judgment on sedition under IPC Section 124A. Sedition was a colonial-era crime of exciting hatred against the government. The Court kept the law but used reading down, which means giving a provision a narrower meaning so that it stays valid. Sedition would now cover only words that incite violence or public disorder. Sharp criticism of the government stayed protected as free speech.
Example
After this case, a speech attacking government policy was not sedition unless it urged people to violence. The law was put on hold in 2022 (S.G. Vombatkere). The BNS, in force from 1 July 2024, dropped sedition.
Don't confuse with
- BNS Section 152: this is a new offence on acts that endanger the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. Critics call it sedition by another name, but legally it is a different offence.
Related concepts
- Right to freedom
- Freedom of speech and expression
- Freedom of the press
- Reasonable restrictions
- Restrictions on freedom of speech
- Romesh Thappar case
- Sedition
- Criminal defamation
- Shreya Singhal case
- Bijoe Emmanuel case