New Delhi: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has been charged with sedition for a newspaper column, which a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary complained against describing it as an “objectionable” piece against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The article was published on December 10 in Saamana, Sena’s mouthpiece. Based on the complaint of BJP’s Yavatmal district coordinator Nitin Bhutada, a first information report (FIR) was registered against Raut, who is the executive editor of the newspaper.Raut, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, has been slapped with Sections 124 (A) (sedition), 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes) of the Indian Penal Code.The Sena (UBT) leader hit back at the BJP, accusing it of “censorship”. “The BJP had no right to say that it stood up against the Emergency because the fight was against such kind of censorship. The criticism in Saamana is political,” he said, according to The Hindu.It maybe noted that the Supreme Court on May 11 had put the sedition law in abeyance. A special bench comprising Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana, Justice Surya Kant, and Justice Hima Kohli had held that all pending cases, appeals, and proceedings concerning charges framed under Section 124A should be kept in abeyance.Although the Union government had said in August it was “repealing” the sedition law, a look at Section 150 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 shows that while the word sedition may have been removed, the law remains and, in many ways, has been made more draconian by making it punishable with imprisonment for life or seven years imprisonment and shall also be liable to fine.The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 along with Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 were part of three new criminal Bills introduced by the Modi government to “reform” the criminal justice system and shed its colonial legacy. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, in particular, was meant to replace the IPC. However, the government withdrew them on Tuesday, December 12, following the recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee.