When we think of the Indian Constitution, we think of the glorious chapter on fundamental rights which guarantees paramount civil liberties such as freedom of speech. But there is also a tension, because freedom of speech is compelled to co-exist with laws such as sedition - contained in Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In 2021, numerous individuals petitioned the Supreme Court to take sedition off the law books.
But, what is sedition? What is its provenance? How was sedition used in colonial India against nationalist leaders? Is there any constitutional justification for its continuance?
In A Constitution to Keep, Rohan Alva answers these timely and relevant questions which every Indian should be asking. The book also makes a case for why political speech must be constitutionally protected and how the Supreme Court can do this while ensuring the purity of political discourse.
About the Author
Rohan J. Alva is a counsel practising in the Supreme Court of India. He graduated with an LL.M. from Harvard Law School, where he focused on constitutional law, and which he read for on numerous scholarships including as a Tata Scholar and on a Harvard Law School Scholarship. He holds a B.A. in History from Loyola College, University of Madras, and an LL.B. from Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi, where he was Editor of the Delhi Law Review. His first book, Liberty After Freedom: A History of Article 21, Due Process and the Constitution of India, was published in January 2022.
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