Sedition law being used as iron hand to curb free speech: Former SC judge Lokur

Former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B Lokur on Monday said the sedition law is being used as an iron hand to curb free speech in an over reaction to people expressing their views.

He said there have been instances of misreading statements of free speech and terming expression of opinions as speculative news to put even journalists behind the bars.

"Many citizens, expressing their views, think they are within the limits of free speech while the State thinks the citizens are transgressing the limits. So what can citizens do? They cannot take to streets or resort to violence. They can only continue to speak," he said.

Justice Lokur also expressed concern on the misuse of preventive detention on people by misreading the intent of their speeches.

"You have people who talk about violence, about breaking up things - nothing happens to them," he said.

The unfortunate thing is that people who are put under preventive detention are not challenging it, he said.

It is difficult to sustain preventive detention, but it is not being challenged maybe because people are afraid.

Speaking about the pendency of cases, he said, "I have gone to the e-courts website. As many as 3 crore 40 lakh cases are pending. The judiciary has to be transparent. They have to tell us, are they doing anything? If they are, then they should tell so that they can get the reaction of lawyers and litigants."

He was speaking in a virtual programme 'Freedom of Speech and Judiciary' on a day when advocate Prashant Bhushan deposited a fine of Re one imposed on him by the top court after holding him guilty of contempt of court for his tweets.

Senior journalist N Ram, activists Aruna Roy, Yogendra Yadav and Anjali Bhardwaj also participated in the virtual programme.

"The judgment by the Justice Arun Mishra led bench was very fearsome but when it came to punishment, it was incongruous due to Re one fine. The Supreme Court claimed sky-high powers. This has to be challenged," he said.