Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, in an affidavit filed before the Bhima Koregaon enquiry commission, has urged that Section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) be repealed as it was being deployed to suppress any dissent being raised in a peaceful and democratic manner.
Mr. Pawar, who is slated to appear before the two-member enquiry commission as a witness in the first week of May, also suggested the reintroduction of Section 66 A (which was struck down by the Supreme Court) of the Information Technology (IT) Act to give teeth to the Act.
In his nine-page affidavit, the NCP chief stated that Section 124A was inserted by the British in 1870 to control uprisings against them and to suppress the Indian freedom movement.
