An Apology To The Freedom Of Speech And Expression: Revisiting The Journey Of Sedition Law In India From ‘Rajdroh’ To ‘Deshdroh’
- IJLLR Journal
- 9 hours ago
- 1 min read
(Sinjini Sanyal, Guest Faculty of Law, Department of Law, KSRU, Krishnagar, Nadia, West Bengal)
ABSTRACT
The Preamble of the Indian Constitution echoes the very sentiment of freedom of speech and expression through the perfect arrangement of words as “liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship”. The ancient Greeks laid the groundwork of free speech as a democratic principle. Ancient Greek word “parrhesia” means “free speech”. Without this freedom the concept of democracy goes absurd. Legitimate opposition to the decisions of the Government is the sole criterion of a living democracy. This criterion cannot be fulfilled without presence of this Fundamental Right, under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution. Untold truth is the curtailment of this right. This exercise of freedom of speech and expression and the abuse of power by the authority in a democratic society are inversely proportional to each other. Balancing the blatant effect of rigidity should be the main aim of the legislature. Sedition, being the colonial law has lost all its freedom in a free state. Though the new approaches create the ambience of its death, but now it is prominent via the new criminal law that, mindful mining of the old soil manufactured the new with different shape. The unconstitutionality of the old law of sedition silenced Article 19(1)(a) and paved the way for new, which is now rolled in the blanket of vagueness. This work tries to mournfully memorize the journey of the freedom of speech and expression through the era of a smoggy change from ‘Rajdroh’ to ‘Deshdroh’.
Keywords: - Disaffection, freedom of speech and expression, public order, sedition, treason.
