new delhi the supreme court on monday expressed concern at the regularity with which sedition charges were slapped against print and electronic media for publishing views critical of the establishment and said it would decide the ambit of the colonialera provision in the indian penal code keeping in view the medias right to free speech and expressionwe are of the view that the ambit and parameters of the provisions of sections 124a 153a and 505 of the indian penal code 1860 would require interpretation particularly in the context of the right of the electronic and print media to communicate news and information even those that may be critical of the prevailing regime in any part of the nation a bench of justices d y chandrachud l n rao and s r bhat saidthe courts resolve to more closely define the law on sedition will be widely welcomed given the perception that it can be a handy tool to silence dissent and political opponents and that the provisions should be invoked only in rare cases where there is a plot against the state or intent to harm national integrityquick edit media freedom gets a thumbs up from sc sedition thumbs downthis order came on petitions filed by telugu tv channels tv5 and abn challenging andhra pradesh polices decision to suo motu lodge an fir on may 14 under sections 124a 153a and 505 of ipc against them for broadcasting the views of ysrcp rebel mp krishnam raju who was critical of chief minister y s jagan mohan reddys covid19 management policy the court stayed any coercive action against the tv channelsraju was made the main accused in the fir and arrested on may 14 he was granted bail by the sc later as army hospital medical reports indicated that he could have been subjected to custodial torturetimes viewsedition has become a tool not only to settle political scores but also to curb freedom of expression this newspaper has consistently campaigned against the rampant misuse of sedition provisions by governments and police forces hopefully the supreme court can finally put a stop to such misuse it has quite rightly stayed the police investigation the apex courts observation that it would soon endeavour to define sedition for print and electronic media is also welcome a free and fearless media is fundamental to democracy efforts to browbeat it by using a heinous charge goes against the very spirit of democracy and must be stoppedthe tv channels through advocates vipin nair and g pramod kumar had also moved another set of petitions seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against ap police for violating the scs april 30 order asking the dgps of states not to take coercive action against anyone who put up critical social media posts against the government relating to covid19 managementthe bench after hearing senior advocates shyam divan and sidharth luthra protected the two telugu tv channels and their personnel from any coercive action by ap police on the basis of the fir