Educate cops on free speech: Supreme Court quashes FIR on Article 370 protest, greeting Pakistan.
The bench of Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said,
“Every citizen of India has a right to be critical of the action of abrogation of Article 370 and the change of status of Jammu and Kashmir.” It said “describing the day the abrogation happened as a ‘Black Day’ is an expression of protest and anguish. If every criticism or protest of the actions of the State is to be held as an offence under Section 153-A, democracy, which is an essential feature of the Constitution of India, will not survive”.
Section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code penalises “promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony”
“The right to dissent in a legitimate and lawful manner is an integral part of the rights guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a). Every individual must respect the right of others to dissent. ..“But the protest or dissent,” it said, “must be within four corners of the modes permissible in a democratic set-up...Pointing to “the WhatsApp status of the appellant” Hajam, it said, “This is an expression of his individual view and his reaction to the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India” and “does not reflect any intention to do something which is prohibited under Section 153-A. At best, it is a protest, which is a part of his freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a).”..
Setting aside the High Court ruling, the bench said “the High Court has held that the possibility of stirring up the emotions of a group of people cannot be ruled out… “The test to be applied,” it said, is “not the effect of the words on some individuals with weak minds or who see a danger in every hostile point of view. The test is of the general impact of the utterances on reasonable people who are significant in numbers. Merely because a few individuals may develop hatred or ill will, it will not be sufficient to attract clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 153-A of the IPC”.
