File photo of Judge Madan B Lokur.
Former Supreme Court Justice Madan B Lokur was especially critical of the “abuse” of prohibition orders and the general shutdown of the Internet.
- PTI
- Last update: October 12, 2020 11:50 PM IST
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The law is being misused to curb freedom of the press and expression, former Supreme Court Justice Madan B Lokur said on Monday, adding that a deadly cocktail of use and abuse of the law “is being used to negatively affect the freedom of all those who dare to speak. “.
The former supreme court judge was especially critical of the sedition laws’ use of weapons, the “abuse” of prohibition orders and the widespread shutdown of the Internet. Judge Lokur delivered the BG Verghese 2020 commemorative lecture on the preservation and protection of our fundamental rights, freedom of expression, expression and the right to protest, organized by the Media Foundation.
In addition, the Foundation also presented the 2019 Chameli Devi Jain Award to women for their outstanding journalism. This year, the award was shared by Arfa Khanum Sherwani from ‘The Wire’ and Rohini Mohan, a freelance journalist from Bengaluru. Rukmini S, a freelance data journalist from Chennai, received an honorable mention.
In his lecture, Judge Lokur said that one of the worst forms of restriction of freedom of expression is to accuse a person of sedition. He noted that the Supreme Court had established the sedition law clearly and convincingly in 1962, but authorities have found several ways to turn the sedition laws into weapons.
Justice Lokur was one of the four superior high court judges who held the controversial press conference on January 12, 2018 against the then Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra.
While talking about the new methods of “silencing speech”, he said that these include attributing to a speaker something he or she never said and then instituting punitive proceedings against that person. He also referred to several cases, including that of the preventive detention of Dr. Kafeel Khan, and said that the detaining authorities violated almost all procedures known to the law.
Khan was arrested in January on charges of delivering a provocative speech at the Muslim University of Aligarh (AMU) during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The Allahabad High Court ordered his release on September 1.
Judge Lokur also spoke about the arrest of the Delhi riots case, Pinjra Tod member Devangana Kalitaina, and said that any citizen can be arrested on the basis of a fairy tale and will have to go through a long process to be released. . He said the law should always be interpreted objectively, but lately, subjective satisfaction has taken over and the consequences are unpleasant.
The former supreme court judge, who retired in December 2018, alleged that the use of Section 144 of the CrPC to “keep the media out of the Hathras gangrape area is nothing more than a heinous violation of liberty press through a strange abuse of the law. “
He said frequent internet blackouts through blanket orders under the pretext of preventing the breakdown of the peace were a very disproportionate response. “The fundamental right to freedom of expression is extremely important to any civilized democracy,” Judge Lokur said, adding that authorities are obliged to ensure that laws are not misrepresented, misused, or abused in such a way that citizens are deprived of their freedoms.
He advised the establishment to understand that the people of this country mean well and, as in any democracy, there will surely be different points of view. “These must be respected, otherwise the fabric of our society could disintegrate,” he said.
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