STEP FORWARD TOWARDS RIGHT TO SPEECHDowry System, Untouchability, and discrimination of caste, creed, sex, religion, gender etc. In the Fundamental Right to Freedom, right to speech,

1 | P a g e JOURNAL ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF LAW

VOLUME 3 ISSUE 6

STEP FORWARD TOWARDS RIGHT TO SPEECH

Charitha Praveen1

“Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all

liberties” - John Milton

ABSTRACT

Indian Constitution defines the Fundamental rights and duties. It provides right to freedom under

7 different categories and the first one is the right to speech and expression under Article 19(1)

(a). This article gives the right to all the citizens of the country to speak and to express their

views. Nowadays students are playing a huge role in spreading awareness about this right. So

this survey was conducted to know the legal standing of this right and how it be made more

widespread. India being a free country now a days youth are seen taking much of a part in such

eye-opening issues fighting for justice as they did for Nirbhaya Case or Kanhaiya Kumar’s

protest for the hanging of Afzal Guru. This research was mainly based on a primary research

methodology where a questionnaire was distributed and general public was requested to fill it. So

it was observed quite a number of people are aware of freedom of right. People even selected

options for reason for restrictions on few gentlemen and also the reason for it. On a note of

conclusion freedom of speech should be extended till a large population but it should not become

a threat to the government or to the nation.

Keywords: Right to freedom, Speech, Expression, Rights, Research, Public.

1 3rd Year BBA LLB Student, Symbiosis Law School, Pune


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INTRODUCTION

Our Constitution defines the seven fundamental rights from article 14 to 32 which mainly

focuses on the rights of each citizen of this country. The seven fundaments rights are: Rights to

equality, Right to freedom, Right against Exploitation, Right to freedom of religion, cultural and

Educational rights, Right to Constitutional Remedies and Right to Education. So this research

paper mainly focuses on the right to freedom of speech and Expression. Each every person has

the freedom to speak and to express his/her opinion without creating any violence. This right has

been provided for the people only so that justice can be brought into picture. But this right cannot

be used wrongly against the interests of the government.

Fundamental Rights for Indians have been of great help as they have helped people to abolish

Dowry System, Untouchability, and discrimination of caste, creed, sex, religion, gender etc. In

the Fundamental Right to Freedom, right to speech, right to move, right to profess and practice,

right to assemble, right to life and liberty and many more. So basically all these rights were made

for the benefit of the people itself.

Freedom of Speech plays a very important role in the fundamental rights. As written above it has

been defined under Article 19(1) (a) but also under Article 19(2) the restrictions under it have

been specified. It is one of the most basic element for an open minded and healthy democracy. In

the landmark case of Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India2 it was observed by the Supreme Court

that this freedom of speech is not restricted geographically and every citizen can carry it and also

has the right to information and share opinions with each other without any hiccups not only in

India but in foreign countries also. The preamble of the constitution gives its citizen the liberty of

expression.

In the 21st century, people are willing to express more as they are becoming part of many

occasion, they are observing a lot of new happenings all around them. Not only the senior

citizens but also the middle aged people and the youth mainly are actively taking part in the

latest news and have their own opinions about each programme. Many knowing about this right

being present, they try to bring it into action by protesting, marching and doing dharnas and their

2 1978 AIR 597


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belief is that it is their right to speak and no one can stop them from doing so but sometimes they

don’t realize it is going against the code of conduct and rules of the country.

This Freedom of speech and Freedom of Press are two different things. Freedom of Press has not

been mentioned by the government under this right. It is implied from Article 19(1)(a) but there

was no statutory or constitutional provision especially for the Press. The right to receive

information from the press is allowed because India is a democratic country, everyone has got

the right to express their opinion and no one can restrict them from doing so.

So basically this survey was conducted through a questionnaire and from which a few

conclusions can be drawn. Questions were asked regarding their opinion about freedom of

expression, who supports it and who would want it to legalize 100% in India. So, from this we

came to few conclusions which are drawn from these answers. Finally it was observed that

people were aware of this right and most of them supported it also.

The main aim behind was to know how many people are aware of such a right and recently there

are demonstrations happening for freedom of speech and also it is seen defamation is also

coming into existence within this issue. Given this background research conducted to find out the

results.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The Research Methodology used here was both methods primary and secondary research. Firstly

Primary research was done through distributing questionnaires to the general public and them to

fill it.

A sample Survey was conducted taking a sample size of 100 people including all ages from 18

years and above. There were different classifications of questions like age which had its starting

below 20 years till above 50 years, gender and Educational qualification. A random sample of

people were asked to fill such a questionnaire and which mainly included the youth because they

are now presently a major influence. Questions asked in the questionnaire were purely based on

the topic mentioned above. A good response was also received by them which helped the

researcher in her survey.


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Secondly, Secondary research was also conducted with the help of newspaper article, Journals,

Magazines etc which also helped the researcher get a lot of information of this upcoming issue.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Different authors, writers, journalists have different perspectives about the freedom of speech.

Each one can take a different outlook and view it from a different angle be it a positive or a

negative one.

According to Jack M Balkin3 - Digital speech and Democratic Culture: A Theory of Freedom of

Expression for the Information Society.

According to him the digital technologies alter the social conditions of speech and therefore

should change the focus of free speech theory, from republic concern with protecting democratic

process and democratic deliberation, to a larger concern with protecting and promoting a

democratic culture. A democratic culture is a culture In which individual have a fair opportunity

to participate in the forms of meaning making that constitute them as individuals.. Republican

progressivist theories of speech also tend to downplay the importance of non- political

expression, popular culture, and individual liberty free speech principle is the battleground over

many years1.

Further, Ernest William Hocking4 says Free speech is traffic in indispensable commodity namely

ideas. Hocking has said that if an idea was born in a man, it was not an item of capital stock. He has an

impulse to give it away, to spread it everywhere in the knowledge that what he gives he keeps. According

to Hocking, “The destiny of private thought is to gain power and effect through shaping public behavior

or public enactment. Nothing could more describe a human failure than a man physically prolific whose

ideas should count for nothing to his group or his time. A suppression of speech, in its more painful

consequence, would be the mental sterilization of the community2.


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Furthermore, Iyer J. says this freedom is essential because the censorial power lies in the people over and

against the Government and not in the Government over and against the people, The freedom of

expression has been considered as a necessary condition for a democratic polity.

According to Kant, The fundamental postulate of liberty, is that, no man can be used as a means as man

is an end to him as well as to the others3.

OBJECTIVES

The basic aim to write this research paper is to find out two main things:

1. Identifying and calculating how many people support freedom of speech and expression

and who according to them have the maximum right.

2. If this Right of speech should be legalized and if so will it bring a change in the society

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This research paper is based on the findings of 10 questions which will be discussed below a

follows.

AGE, GENDER AND EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION

Fig. 1.1 AGE Fig. 1.2 GENDER


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Three factors play a very important role in this area EDUCATIONAL, as it is observed in the

first figure 1.1 it focuses on the age of the sample size taken, it shows that maximum is 40%

which includes people from age between 41-50 years, so this can be directly related also to their

education also that as they are regular in their work and most of them would be very determined

to read the newspaper everyday , it can be concluded that they would the ones most aware of the

recent happenings all over. Next highest is 28% who is the age below 20 years who basically

consists of the youth who actively today take part in all the activities which happen, be it in the

universities or outside them. So they will stand second. Then are the people who lie above 50

years, people in this age are not very different from the group of people from the age of 41-50

years. More or less they would have similar habits and would read newspapers regularly and

keep themselves updated, though many wouldn’t take part in such activities but they would

definitely know what is happening around the globe. Next coming to the category of 21-30 years

with 11% who are less in number but this would vary if the sample size would be larger and

people between the age of 31-40 years who are 7% according to the survey are very similar as

people between these ages are a bit more workaholic and would prefer staying in their

atmosphere of work as they are in the stage of building their career rather than indulging in these

issues but would be aware.

Next coming to the gender, male 51% and female 49% (Fig 1.2) this does not make a lot of

different but as today woman are equally given rights everywhere, taking their opinion and

coming to a conclusion is not wrong.

Next is educational qualification which does play an important role as graduates 41% as

observed from the Fig 1.3 have a single degree and most of them would have passed the time

where they would have come across such topics to discuss and take part. Post graduates (Fig 1.3)

are 31% they are less in number because not many people would have taken specialization

pertaining to such topic. And lastly, students 28 % are the least but surprisingly they are the most

active participators as and they would have the knowledge of it and would definitely want to take

action against it.


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DO YOU THINK FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS NECESSARY?

The first question asked to them was if according to

them Freedom of speech and Expression necessary and

the answer is quite clear shown in the figure(fig 1.4)

above which clearly shows that 98% of the people say

YES and only 2% of them say MAY BE. So the people

who said yes will all have a common opinion about free

speech but people who said may be are a little doubtful

about their views reason being they would think about both positive and negative effects of it but

are not really sure about it. As you can observe nobody said a NO which states that all of them

support it and nobody is against having such a right.

ACCORDING TO YOU, IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EXPRESSION

AND OPINION?

This was a very general question asking them the difference between expression and opinion. As

it can be seen in Fig 1.5, 84% of people say YES, 10% say MAY BE and 6% say NO. Basically

Expression means the act of making your thoughts, feelings etc by speech, writing or some other

method. It is a matter of liberty and right. It is integral to

the expansion and fulfillment of individual personality.

Opinion means a view or a judgment formed about

something, not necessarily based on facts or knowledge.

So by this it can be made sure that expression and

opinion are two different things. Often people get

confused between the two and come to wrong

conclusions. Everyone has the right to expression and

nobody can be stopped from expressing what they feel like because India being a democratic,

socialist, republic in nature this itself is enough to give the people the right to open up and speak

Fig-1.5


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for justice. Freedom of Expression has been considered a necessary condition for democratic

polity.

IF FREEDOM OF SPEECH & EXPRESSION IS LEGALISED 100% IN INDIA

THEN DO YOU THINK THE SOCIETY OR PUBLIC WILL BECOME OVER-

EXPRESSIVE?

Fig. - 1.6

This question is a bit critical as 41% of the say MAY BE, so this shows that people are not very

sure about this seeing the situation in our country, 38% of them say YES so these many are sure

about people becoming over expressive and opening up about all the issues in our country. And

21% of them say NO which clearly states their opinion of being over expressive is negative

probably because they are thinking only about the cynical side of it. But it can be ascertained that

people who have said may be are thinking about both the optimistic and the pessimistic

consequences of it. Different people will have different point of views but they don’t express it

due to the fear of Govt. but if it’s totally legalized then maybe they would raise their voice for

every issue.


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"FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS RESTRICTED IN INDIA"

This Question was basically asked to know their opinion about the restriction of the right of

expression in India, and accordingly it is observed that 41% of them Agree to this statement, 4%

of them Strongly agree, so this shows almost 50% of them think that their freedom to express is

suppressed due to many reasons which does move parallel with what is stated in Article 19(a).

Further it is noticed that 21 % of them disagree to this and 6% strongly disagree so we can

assume that this group of people may be from the influential background whose speech hasn’t

been restricted by anyone. And finally 28%of them are doubtful about their answer and have said

MAY BE which shows they aren’t very sure about it.

"KANHAIYA KUMARS STEP TOWARDS THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH WAS

A POSITIVE ONE"

Fig. 1.7

Fig. 1.8


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The talk of the whole country is now Kanhaiya Kumar, who screamed “Pakistan Zindabad” and

much more with all the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) who started protesting

after hanging Afzal Guru who was stated to be involved in the Parliament Attack 2001 case.The

students came out on streets to show their solidarity for democracy with the right to speech. It

was a very different and a chaotic scenario which was created all over Delhi. Kanhaiya was

arrested for this behavior as the authorities thought they were shouting anti-national slogans.

After he was arrested and released he and his fellow college mates started protesting mainly

talking about their freedom of speech being restricted but for the authorities it was going against

the Government and the country. Talking about a person or what a dozen of people speak all of

them cannot be arrested. Each one has the right to express their opinion and that was done by

those students because they wanted an answer for the unjust done to Afzal and his family but no

one would be able to see that but they should keep in mind that they cannot speak anything

violent about the Government.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS RESTRICTED TO CERTAIN GENTLEMEN

There are certain reasons for freedom of speech being restricted to certain persons. It’s not that

each on this land stands up and speaks for the right or wrong. So here most of them have said

Politicians which is shown in the above Fig 1.9 as 33%, this depicts that people believe these

Fig. - 1.9


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politicians have the maximum rights which indirectly shows that due to this somewhere we are

lagging behind by giving them the most liberty. Then, others have been given 26%, showing

about not being really sure of none of the options given may be by others they imply

businessman, housewives etc. Next highest is 17% to workers who include farmers mostly who

should have the right to express their needs. And lastly students and Ministers have been given

12% equally which is more or less is appropriate but nowadays youths(students) take a lot of

interest in such activities nowadays.

WHY DO YOU THINK THERE ARE GENERAL RESTRICTIONS ON RIGHT

TO SPEECH

Till some extent this Freedom of speech also should be restricted and mainly due to the above

reasons in the figure 1.10 where it mentions five main restrictions i.e. Sovereignty, Security,

Public order, Contempt of Court, Others. Sovereignty is the prime duty of the government. It

cannot be restricted till the extent it becomes a threat to the country. Security is very necessary in

the state which needs to be maintained so restrictions are applied. Public order is something more

than ordinary maintenance of law and order. 'Public order' is synonymous with public peace,

safety and tranquility. Communal disturbances would cause a rebellion for the government.

Judiciary plays a very important role so it becomes its responsibility if it exceeds the reasonable

Fig. – 1.10


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fair limit and amounts to contempt of court. And finally by others it is referred to defamation,

friendly relations with foreign states, etc which also involves this right should be restricted for

self-esteem issues. From above analysis it is very evident that grounds containing in Article

19(2) shows that they are concerned to national interest or towards society.

CONCLUSION

It can be concluded by giving a last note that everyone being an individual has the freedom to

move aroud and also he is the one who can control his mind and actions. He should keep in mind

that not every person will appreciate if he moves against their will which could land him in

trouble. He needs to think before he acts and for that he should utilize his rights properly. From

this research paper we can gather information about what people think about this right, do they

support it or not, who is most influential in owning this right. These questions are mainly to

bring attention of the general public towards Constitution of India which specifies a number of

such rights which are made for the benefit of the individual. They need to a look carefully as to

what is given in it and use it wherever necessary.

Being a socialist, democratic, republic country no one should take a step back when something

unethical is happening in the society. We read newspapers everyday and see cases of rape, dowry

death, molesting, eve-teasing etc. but no one takes action against it. Either the case is shut down

due to lack of evidences or even if the criminal is caught he is released soon so there is no fear in

the people of getting punished, only high profile cases are considered but which are solved soon

with bribing the opposite party.

FILLING IN THE GAPS- Basically this part is where all the loopholes are brought into light.

Here main loophole is to make people aware of such a right as observed in the above survey

though they say a yes about the necessity for freedom of expression they also need to put it into

action.

The Government should take further steps to make the law more specific and allow people to

express their opinion. Its government’s job to take public interest as a mainstream job and take

their opinion to improve the country’s wealth, economy and welfare of the people.


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Today Right to freedom is not only restricted to giving opinions but also in the written or

pictorial form. It also includes right to information. World’s two biggest Democracies i.e.

America and India have protected this right remarkably throughout.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Firstly Freedom of Speech and expression should achieve few aims. Those are:

1) Discovering of truth

2) Non self-fulfillment

3) Democratic value

4) To ensure pluralism. These four will that freedom of speech is achieved in a proper

manner. Each one play a very important role in the society which needs to be identified

and brought into practice in a legal manner.

5) There are hundreds of people who aren’t aware of such right they should be made aware

and help them use it at places were unjust is happening.

LIMITATIONS

• Being sample size 100, the total population cannot be considered and so this would

give the exact figures. This is just a part of the whole population, so there might be

changes in the numbers which can cause differences in them.

• Many people not being aware of the current situation would not have given

appropriate answer so the calculation cannot be to the point, which can vary the

numbers and percentages.

Documents

STEP FORWARD TOWARDS RIGHT TO SPEECHDowry System, Untouchability, and discrimination of caste, creed, sex, religion, gender etc. In the Fundamental Right to Freedom, right to speech,