to be introduced in lok sabha bill no 97 of 2011 the indian penal code (amendment) bill, 2011 by shri  arjun meghwal,  mp a billfurther to amend the indian penal code, 1860be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-second year of the republic of india as follows:— statement of objects and reasonssection 124a of the indian penal code, 1860 provides that whoever by words, either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representation or otherwise attempts to bring hatred or contempt or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards government establishment shall be punished for the offence of sedition section 124a was not a part of the original indian penal code, 1860 it was introduced ten years later and then amended in 1898 to include seditious libel it is distressing that we are slapping sedition cases on our people when the offence has been rendered obsolete in several countries that this provision is an archaic colonial-era law and has no place in any democracy that values freedom of expression which was recognized by no less a person than the prime minister jawaharlal nehru who told parliament in 1951 that he found section 124a 'highly objectionable and obnoxious' he said, "the sooner we get rid of it the better"there is no place in a democracy for a law that conflates disaffection with disloyalty and regards trenchant criticism as a form of treason what was once an instrument by british colonialism to suppress the freedom struggle cannot be retained by the state to silence the voices of its people it is high time that section 124a is omitted from the codehence this billnew delhi;arjun meghwalnovember 9, 2011 annexureextract from the indian penal code, 1860(act no 45 of 1860)    sedition124a  whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in india, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine    ———— a billfurther to amend the indian penal code, 1860————(shri arjun meghwal, mp)gmgipmrnd—2481ls(s3)—23-11-2011