oppn parties Freedom Of Expression Is Important But Hate Speech Must Be Stopped

News Snippets

  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
  • IPL: records tumble as SRH beat MI in a high-scoring match. SRH score 277/3 with 18 sixes and Mumbai score 246 with 20 sixes to fall short by 31 runs. Atotal of 38 sixes, highest in an IPL match were hit and both teams combined to score 523 runs, the highest aggregate in an IPL match
  • Amul will launch fresh milk in the US
  • IPL: RCB beat Punjab by 4 wickets as Kohli and Karthik shine with the bat
  • India strongly objected to German foreign office remarks over the arrest of delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, called it "biased assumptions"
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
Freedom Of Expression Is Important But Hate Speech Must Be Stopped

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-01-04 06:10:04

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

The Supreme Court, in a significant judgment, held that the curbs on free speech listed in the Constitution are 'exhaustive' and there is no need to curtail free speech further. The court decided on a reference to examine whether it was necessary to curb free speech of a public functionary. In that respect, the court said a statement made by a minister will have to be seen as being made in his or her personal capacity and cannot be vicariously attributed to the government on the basis of the principle of collective responsibility. But Justice B V Nagarathana differed - she was of the opinion that it has to be seen if the minister was talking in his or her official capacity as the representative of the government and if that was the case, then the view will have to be taken as the view of the government. The majority judgment also said that politicians making intemperate remarks as private citizens can be sued.

Although this judgement is significant as it bats for free speech, there are two basic things which the apex court or the Parliament has to address. The first is giving all curbs against free speech listed in the Constitution a proper, precise and unambiguous definition. The terms used in the Constitution - sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence - are open to various interpretations and are often invoked in a biased manner to curb free speech. The second is to similarly define hate speech and within the ambit of the Constitution, have a separate law to tackle the growing menace. There is no doubt that the right to freedom of expression is one of the most important rights enshrined in the Constitution and empowers the citizens to protest against wrongs but when this right is used to spew hate and abuse others, it has to be examined whether it can be said to come under the reasonable restriction of going against public order, decency or morality (Justice Nagarathna was right in saying in her separate judgment that it is for the Parliament to decide whether such further restrictions can be imposed). For, if someone's right to freedom of expression is in conflict with the interest of the wider community (for instance, a hate speech by someone might spark riots) such right needs to be further restricted.