The Supreme Court of India has issued a notice to the State of Madhya Pradesh in response to a plea filed by former Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) chief Safdar Nagori, seeking clarity on the status of his stalled appeal against a sedition conviction.
Nagori, who was convicted in 2017 under multiple terrorism-related offences, including sedition, has already served the respective sentences for all but the sedition charge, which carried a life term.
His appeal against that particular conviction is currently pending before the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Appearing before a vacation bench, Nagori's counsel submitted that the High Court had completed hearing arguments in the appeal, but the judgment remains in abeyance due to the Supreme Court's earlier order staying the application of Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, which pertains to sedition.
The top court, after taking note of the situation, listed the matter for hearing in the second week of July.
The bench acknowledged that the High Court arguments in the sedition case had concluded but agreed to consider the issue of whether the appeal could proceed in light of the freeze on the sedition law's enforcement.
In 2017, a district court in Madhya Pradesh sentenced Nagori and eleven other individuals to life imprisonment. They were convicted of plotting anti-national activities and of possessing firearms, explosives, and ammunition.
The group was arrested in March 2008 by a Special Task Force.
The Supreme Court had, in May 2022, put the sedition law in abeyance, urging all courts to pause proceedings under the provision until the Centre completed its review of the colonial-era statute.
Nagori’s plea is among several cases affected by that directive, raising broader questions over the status of appeals in convictions involving sedition charges.
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