India, Feb. 28 -- New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Friday said that the government's decision to review the offence of sedition under the old Indian Penal Code (IPC) cannot prevent Parliament from introducing it in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) as the legislature functions independent of the executive.

The observation came while the court was hearing a batch of public interest litigations (PIL) challenging various provisions of BNS, including section 152 that criminalises a host of actions that endanger sovereignty, integrity and unity of the country.

The petitioners referred to an undertaking given by Centre in 2022 before the top court that section 124A of the IPC relating to the offence of sedition would be reviewed. Based on this...