This lethal cocktail is adversely impacting the liberty of all those who dare to speak up. The right to life and personal liberty is under a silent threat and we all know the consequence of losing our liberty – simply put, we will cease to be a democratic republic: Madan Lokur.J

Our freedom of speech is being eroded and mauled through twisting and turning the law if not abusing it altogether.

#FreedomOfSpeech
#FreedomOfExpression

Law needs to be objectively interpreted but subjective satisfaction has taken over and the consequences are unpalatable: dissent or expression of a different point of view has become an issue to the extent that bona fide speech sometimes becomes a security threat:Justice Lokur

Some cynics glibly suggest that if the speaker is not guilty, he or she will be acquitted of the charges,but the fact of the matter s that detention as an under-trial is a gut-wrenching experience for anyone and particularly for a person whose cries of innocence fall on deaf ears

Such a person looks to the judiciary for protecting his or her freedom of speech and liberty but gets overwhelmed by the painfully slow justice delivery system: Justice Madan Lokur

#FreedomOfSpeech
#DissentIsDemocracy

Supreme Court drew a correlation between sedition and violence, sedition and inciting violence, and #Sedition and tendency to incite violence – not just simple violence but violence of such a degree as to bring it within the purview of public disorder
#FreedomOfSpeech

So, when you have rival gangs confronting each other and one of them shouts maro, a law and order situation of rioting and attempt to murder arises, not of #Sedition : Justice Madan Lokur

However,depending on the occasion and context,when a speaker raises a slogan at public gathering of supporters by shouting #golimaro a charge could possibly b laid of tending to incite violence or incitement to violence & raising a public order issue rather than a law&order issue

On the other hand, when there is a call to protest for a cause without any incitement to violence, it would not be #Sedition under any circumstances: Justice Lokur

#FreedomOfSpeech

In recent years new methods of silencing speech have been introduced: attribute something to a speaker that he or she never said. I find this simply amazing: Justice Lokur

#FreedomOfSpeech

Try and visualize a police complaint filed against you for something you never said and you are kept in jail for several months and eventually set free after litigating for your rights: Justice Lokur

#Sedition
#FreedomOfSpeech

Case against Dr @drkafeelkhan is a classic instance of cooking up a case against a person with the intention of putting him behind bars for several months: Justice Madan Lokur

The pandemic has generated a tremendous amount of fake news in our country and worldwide and the latest going around is that corona were can be cured by snorting cocaine, drinking alcohol and bleach: Justice Lokur

#FakeNews

There is no doubt that #FakeNews must be countered effectively and quickly, but surely, a charge of #Sedition is not the answer: Justice Lokur

#fundamentalrights
#FreedomOfSpeech

The fundamental right of freedom of speech cannot be applied arbitrarily: Justice Lokur

#fundamentalrights
#FreedomOfSpeech

In last few years the establishment has displayed a new determination and great ingenuity in securing conformity and obedience from the Press. The cumulative effect is chilling: Justice Lokur

#fundamentalrights
#FreedomOfSpeech
#FreedomOfPress

We all recall Mr. L.K. Advani’s observation that during the Emergency journalists were merely asked to bend but they chose to crawl. Today, there is no Emergency and nobody has asked the media to bend, yet the perception is that they are crawling. It is quite a mystery.

In #Hathras with a view to prohibit the media from reporting anything about the events, the establishment completely cordoned off the entire area with a few hundred policeman and issued a prohibitory order under Section 144 of the Cr.P.C. so that nobody could enter that area

This is nothing but an egregious violation of the freedom of the Press through a bizarre abuse of the law: Justice Lokur

#FreedomOfSpeech
#FreedomOfPress

The other question to be asked in this context is can any serious journalist function fearlessly if an opinion expressed, however absurd or bizarre, leads to arrest and a charge of #Sedition followed by a long-drawn battle in the courts? Justice Lokur

#FreedomOfPress

Almost every State seems to have weaponised sedition as a means of silencing critics and the numbers are increasing. Any statement is good enough for a sedition case, and this is not in just a few States; it is in almost every State and Union Territory.

In an absolutely peaceful atmosphere, a teenager in Bengaluru raised a particular slogan three times and this resulted in her arrest on charges of #Sedition . Could this ever amount to an attempt to destabilize the government? Justice Lokur

We have the unenviable record of stifling freedom of speech and expression through the maximum number of #internetshutdowns for prolonged periods in any vibrant democracy.

It is time for the establishment to realise that the people of this country mean well and as in any democracy, there are bound to be different points of view: Justice Lokur

These must be respected --- otherwise the fabric of our society might disintegrate, and fraternity, one of the key words in the preamble to our Constitution might just become another dead idea: Justice Lokur