What could be more contemptuous of the judiciary than smuggling back into force an archaic, undemocratic colonial law already frozen by the Supreme Court? Yet when the contemnor is none other than the Union government, will the judiciary act?

On August 14, the Assam Police summoned two senior journalists of The Wire—Karan Thapar and Siddharth Varadarajan—under Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS) 2023, the new sedition clause that criminalises acts deemed to endanger India’s sovereignty, unity and integrity. The summons, carrying a threat of arrest, must be seen as nothing short of contempt of court—for several reasons.

First, the summons was sent to The Wire’s Founder editor Varadarajan exactly on the day, August 12, the Supreme Court granted him and his team interim protection from coercive action in connection with an FIR filed by the Assam Police.

Second, the police invoked Section 152 just a week after a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice B. R. Gavai agreed to examine its constitutional validity.

Third, Section 152 is itself a sleight of hand: a rebranded replica of the infamous Section 124-A of the IPC, which the Supreme Court suspended in 2022.

This is despite the Centre’s own admission before the apex court that Section 124-A was outdated and would be scrapped. Yet the BNS reintroduced it, almost word for word.

The Guwahati Crime Branch has now directed the two journalists to appear on August 22, warning that failure to do so would lead to arrest. The summons merely stated that there were “reasonable grounds” to question them, but offered no details. The underlying FIR reportedly stems from a complaint by a BJP leader, triggered by The Wire’s various articles,........

© Mathrubhumi English