Supreme Court rejects govt's plea, bench of 5 to decide on sedition law

The Supreme Court Tuesday referred to a five-judge bench the issue of constitutional validity of the contentious and much misused sedition offence under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code after rejecting the Union government's plea to pause the judicial scrutiny and await Parliament's view on the proposed new code in Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which seeks to do away with the provision.