Educate cops on free speech: Supreme Court quashes FIR on Article 370 protest, greeting Pakistan
Ananthakrishnan G | 8 March 2024 | The Indian Express
Underlining that it is time to sensitise and “educate our police” on freedom of speech and expression and “the extent of reasonable restraint”, the Supreme Court Thursday set aside a Bombay High Court order and quashed an FIR against a Maharashtra college professor booked for his WhatsApp status critical of the abrogation of Article 370 and for wishing Pakistan on its independence day.
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”…