Author: Swapnil Chauhan, Translam College of Law.
“You have the right to say what u feel and what you think. You have right to share information, right to agree or disagree with the one in power. You have the right to express your opinions in peaceful manners. Your Voice Matters.” Having to express without fear or without interference is a way to live in a fair society, the place where people can access justice and enjoy their rights.
Introduction
Freedom of Speech – Article 19 of Indian Constitution, it is a pillar of Democratic India. It provides freedom of speech to express thoughts fearlessly, move freely, form peaceful associations and choose profession of choice. It is a protection given by the constitution of India to present the ideas and opinions without having fear of being censored by the government. The exchange of ideas by the people of different communities are way of keeping healthy democracy. Speaking freely is closely connected to the freedom of thoughts that is considered the essential tool for democratic self -governance. People of the country are given right to express themselves publicly without any fear. Simultaneously, the protection is important as it allows the people to participate in the society by giving their unique perspective.
However, freedom of speech does not give pass to all sort of speech. Anyone who is engaged in criminalized form of speech like child pornography or terrorism content cannot defend themselves under the shield of right to freedom of speech, these are considered as hate speech and are protected from the right of freedom to speech and express.
The Value of Freedom of Speech
The basis of functional democracy is allowing all the citizen to participate in social and political process of the country. There is plenty of ways in which one can express their thoughts like verbal, written, gesture, posters, broadcast etc. these are all the ways of freedom of speech in healthy democratic country.
Not only Indian Government but also international statutes like Universal Declaration of Human Rights have favored and guaranteed Freedom of Speech. The goal of Democracy is having tolerant society which is only possible when citizens have right to speak freely and openly. The exchange of ideas id not only for the election day but for the complete government tenure it is an ongoing two-way communication.
- Active Participation of Citizens is responsible for shaping the society. Elections and polls and considered as the active participation in order to achieve that but they only come once in few years. Freedom of speech, assembling freely, protesting silently and peacefully against a cause which is believed to be obstacle in upliftment of the society, unpopular decisions like in Delhi Rape Case famously known as Nirbhaya Rape Case in order to showcase that the government has to take stronger action on an important issue.
- Equal treatment to minorities. In democratic country everyone should be treated equally irrespective of their caste. Inspite of this people belonging to minorities are not given importance and neglected when compared to people belonging to the dominant group. By speaking and expressing freely the issues faced by their communities are given public notice and support. This ultimately increase their ability to reach out to people and put an end to the human rights abuse.
- Important for Change and Innovations. In order to make the society a better place to stay for everyone, the people should be able to communicate and exchange the ideas and expressions. The Authority who suppresses criticism and hold the public interest information, forces citizens to make decisions not knowing the correct facts and important information relate to the issues of the society.
- Battle for truth. In order to make the right decision regarding how the society should function, it is very important to have the right information that is accurate information about the varieties of topics. This is only possible when people have the right to communicate freely and have freedom to express themselves.
Hate Speech Vs. Speech Freedom
Hate Speech is a challenge to the Right of freedom of speech. In the era where we live today, it is used to gain the popularity, it divides the society by attempting to specific group of people based on culture, religion, race, gender, language, occupation, sexual orientation, ideology, appearance etc. Hate speech has been seen to use mostly pre-elections to mis guide people about the facts about the government and post elections to cause politics of hate and violence.
The Constitution of India prevents the hate speech delivery under the impression of free speech. It forbids the expression that can insult others. According to Article 51A(h) of Indian Constitution, citizens must develop humanism, specific temper and the spirit of query and improve. Criminal laws also impose penalties on the hate speech.
Facets of Free Speech
- Freedom and liberty of press is extremely crucial to make country democratic, and if a person cannot speak freely or communicate openly about his opinion. The right of freedom of press is crucial for political autonomy and democratic efficient operations. The freedom of press not only the newspaper and magazines but it is also in the form of booklets, circulars and other publication means that provides the information and opinions.
In Romesh Thapar Vs. State of Madras, Justice Patanjali Shastri expressed himself by stating that freedom of press comes under the right of free speech and to have a democratic organization it is necessary to have a groundwork without the interference of Political dialogue. As, a result press can print anything they find evidentiary without taking prior permission from anyone beforehand, without worrying about the penalties of the law of the land.
In Prabha Dutt Vs. Union of India the supreme court held that the press can access the news and information from the government falls. But this right is not unlimited, for the interest of society and individual the information acquired by the press is limited.
In Union of India Vs. Manohar Lal Sharma the court passed the interim order for making the technical committee to investigate that many journalists, politician and activists had fallen for such activities. The court acknowledged that government cannot make an excuse out of national security to overlook the responsibility they hold. They also said press freedom and privacy right were closely connected, and that concern of monitoring represent assault on press, which is said to be the fourth pillar of democracy.
- Right to Silence is a constitutional right provided to every citizen of the country. The constitution of India gives the privilege to the citizen to stay quite or not to answer any question if they do not wish to do that. No investigator can force them to speak or admit guilt.
In Bijoe Emmanuel & Ors Vs State of Kerela & Ors on 11 Aug 1986, Court held that the not singing National Anthem comes under right to remain silence given by the constitution of India to the citizen of the country.
- Right to be Informed includes the right given to the citizen to have the information and knowledge about the things that may directly or indirectly have any kind of effect on them. These rights are stated as a part of freedom of speech and expression.
In Union of India Vs. Association of Democratic reforms court stated that the people who votes for making the government has all the right to know about their candidate and the government.
- Right to report and broadcast means people have right to publish and telecast and spread the news by all the means that they came across in order to inform about the news. The information that is available to public can be published and spread by the various organizations or individuals to ensure transparency.
- Right to expression beyond national boundaries states that the right to free speech is not only restricted to the national boundaries. In Maneka Gandhi Vs. Union of India Supreme court made it very clear that freedom of speech is not only confined to the territory of India.
- Right to Criticize is a fundamental right where citizen of the country can state their opinion on any general issue. In case S. Rangaranjan Vs. P. Jagjivan Ram court held that the open criticism of the government policies is a right of the people of the country, it is not a ground for restricting expression.
- Freedom of Commercial Speech, in case of Tata Press Ltd. Vs. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., the Supreme Court upheld that a commercial advertisement is a part of the freedom of speech and expression. The information is made available to the public at large through the advertisements. One of the essential parts of a democratic economy is the free flow of commercial information.
Limitation to Freedom of Speech
- Sovereignty and Integrity of India was added to the Clause (2) of Article 19 of Indian Constitution which states that no one has right to question the integrity and sovereignty of the Country. This clause prohibits to make such statement that challenges the integrity of India.
- Security of State restrict the freedom of speech and expression. Public disturbances like rebellion, waging war, riots against the state are the concern for security of state. The government can any time restrict the freedom of speech an expression if it feels that it needs to be protected for the purpose of security of state.
- Maintain friendly relation with foreign states. In 1951 the clause was inserted in Indian constitution that the government has every right to put restriction on freedom of speech and expression if it harms the relation with the foreign countries.
- Public Order was added in 1951 in Indian Constitution to satisfy the situation aroused from the Supreme Court’s decision in Romesh Thapar’s Case. The things that disturb public peace resulting in disturbing public order. But only the criticism of the government does not necessarily result in disturbing public order.
- Contempt of Court refers to criminal contempt and civil contempt under sec 2 of the Contempt of Court Act. The disobedience caused deliberately to any judgment, order, decree, writ etc. Breach of the direction provided by the court in any case to a person, is
- ‘Criminal contempt’ refers to the proclamation of any matter of any conduct, whether by speaking a word, writing or a signs or visible representations, or by any other manner.
- Defamation is making a statement about any person to tarnish the image of that person. Defamation is a crime in India. Right to speak freely is not absolute that is it does not give you the right to hurt someone reputation that is protected under Article 21 of Indian Constitution.
- Decency and Morality section 294 – 296 of BNS 2024 limits the use of words that are indecent, dirty, disgusting and vulgar in India in order to maintain the decency and morality. Freedom of speech is restricted of such words.
- Incitement to an offence. Right to free speech does not give a free pass to people to get involved in criminal activity.
CONCLUSION
The right to freedom of free speech and expression is a fundamental right of the citizens. It is also
It is logical to argue the extent of free expression that should be allowed to them. It is a solid rock on which the foundation of democracy is laid down. Every person voice and thoughts matter in order to have the proper functioning of the democracy. Speech is an important aspect to share the knowledge and thoughts. Freedom of speech and expression comes with the birth. Therefore, no person should be deprived of this right. But on the other hand, the freedom of speech given to citizens can not be absolute. With the freedom comes the responsibilities and therefore it is a responsibility if every citizen to use this freedom for right purpose and in right context. It is a question of matter and has been asked from time to time that what should be the extent to which this right should be exercised in order to draw a line between the right and wrong, in order to distinguish the liberty. It should be made sure by the citizens that their right should not be the hinderance to others or should cause any inconvenience. This right given to us is only absolute till the time no one is getting disturbed by it; it is not aiming towards the hate for someone and also not provoking the violence. Although, Criticism is not allowed but it is welcomed in the democratic society but only allowed till is fair and not aiming to create distress and hatred in the country.
FAQ
- What do you mean by Freedom of Speech and expression?
- What is the limitation of freedom of speech?
- What do you understand by hate speech?
- How does hate speech affect the peace of the country?