The above map explains the freedom of expression index for each country. United States, Poland and Spain are in the first three places with 5.73, 5.66 and 5.62 as their scores respectively
The best thing we can pray for is that the courts give a quick judgment in favour of Fundamental Rights so that the government can worry about other things than what it will not let young women wear, hopes Aakar Patel.
Objectionable social media posts against ministers, members of Parliament and the state legislature, other elected representatives and government officials shall be counted as cyber crime and warrant penal action, says a missive issued by a top police official in Bihar.
Information technology industry veteran V Balakrishnan on Thursday criticised the new digital rules, alleging that they appear to be unduly compromising the privacy right of citizens. The two key issues with the new IT rules relate to user privacy, which is a fundamental right, and the oversight mechanism lying fully with the executive arm of the government, said the former chief financial officer of Bengaluru-headquartered IT major Infosys Ltd.
"Registering police cases against me is an infringement on my fundamental right to freedom of expression mandated by Constitution," he wrote in a series of tweets.
Even if it wants to censor what you read, watch, or consume, the amount of content online is so huge that it is physically impossible for any government to do it, notes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
The government on Wednesday informed Parliament that there is no proposal with the Information Technology ministry to set up a regulator for social media.
Twitter has blocked several accounts and tweets after the government asked the microblogging platform to take action against 250 handles and posts for containing 'false and provocative content' related to the ongoing farmers' agitation, according to sources.
The HC held that the special CBI court overreached its powers in issuing the order.
Here, then, we recap some of the many, many times our sensitive selves were shaken by those who thought, mistakenly, that Freedom of Expression actually existed in India.
The Karnataka high court on Tuesday dismissed petitions filed by a section of Muslim students from the Government Pre-University Girls College in Udupi, seeking permission to wear the hijab inside the classroom.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today felicitated six party workers who allegedly smeared Observer Research Foundation chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni's face with black paint to protest former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri's book launch in Mumbai.
'You cannot achieve peace if your objective is not to make political accommodations,' notes Dr Nyla Ali Khan, Sheikh Abdullah's grand-daughter, Dr Farooq Abdullah's niece and Omar Abdullah's cousin.
The group's digital news site had put out reports, along with pictures, on dead bodies of suspected coronavirus patients floating down the river Ganga in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar which had led to nationwide consternation.
In a democracy, all have the freedom of expressing their views, but none can be given the right to create disturbance and instability in the country, it said.
Curated by artist Myna Mukherjee, the art at the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre booth featured paintings as well as songs including Faiz Ahmad Faiz's "Hum Dekhenge", and poetry recitations talking about the love, beauty, tenderness and the strength of women across the country.
Bollywood actor Anupam Kher sparred during a debate over the limits imposed on freedom of speech and were joined in by a politically divided audience at the Jaipur Lit Fest.
'For the UDF, it will depend on how far Rahul Gandhi will succeed with the goodwill he has.' 'That will make a difference.'
It was amusing to hear Minister Jaishankar's argument of tech companies being influential non-State actors. If only he looked at his own party before saying what he did, notes Shyam G Menon.
The ministry of external affairs said India remains committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all its citizens and that the country's democratic polity is complemented by an independent judiciary and a range of national and state-level human rights commissions.
"The Congress in a way is in the grip of urban Naxals. That is why its thought has become negative," Modi alleged in his 90-minute speech.
The Centre on Tuesday came out in support of film star Kamal Haasan, who is facing problems in releasing his mega budget film 'Vishwaroopam', saying everyone in the country enjoys the freedom of expression and artists have full liberty to continue their choice of work.
Scores of volunteers belonging to the leftist of Democratic Youth Federation of India were detained on Saturday after they tried to stage a road blockade outside the Indian Institute of Technology Madras to protest the derecognition of a students' group for allegedly criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even as some political parties expressed concern over 'threats' to freedom of expression.
Amid a tussle between the Union government and Twitter over the new IT rules, officials of the microblogging site on Friday deposed before a parliamentary panel chaired by Congress's Shashi Tharoor over preventing misuse of social media.
Hours after the Joe Biden Administration reacted to the farmer protests, India on Thursday said the comments must be seen in their entirety and compared reactions to the violence at the Red Fort with those seen after storming of the United States Capitol.
In democratic India, a citizen can be a patriot and at the same time be critical of the government, unlike China which promulgated a national security law in Hong Kong prescribing patriotism to contest elections, observes Rup Narayan Das.
The noted culture and political commentator sought the court to declare the new rules ultra vires of the Constitution and the parent Information Technology Act, as these norms, among other things, imposes a 'chilling effect' on free speech and are vague and indeterminate.
Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday told the Bombay high court that the defamation suit filed against him by Dhyandev Wankhede, father of Narcotics Control Bureau zonal director Sameer Wankhede, was only an attempt to cover-up the 'illegalities' committed by the IRS officer and claimed none of his statements against them was false.
Amid continuing uproar on the issue of freedom of expression in the country, Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday called for respect to the armed forces, saying that the nation is in a position to debate because of the men in uniform. "As v have this debate on freedom of speech our forces r making sure v stay in position to keep debating," Dhoni wrote on his official Twitter handle. "Spl forces and commando unit's r normal ppl like u and me who r highly motivated and trained to put the interest of the nation before self," he added. Dhoni holds the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Territorial Army.
The UN on Friday called on Bangladesh to initiate steps for preventing violence against writers and activists, including providing physical protection to potential targets, in the wake of the killing of a secular blogger in the country.
Protesting the closure of its chief Hafiz Saeed's official Twitter account, the Jamaat-ud-Dawah has alleged that the micro-blogging website took the step to oblige India.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah on Saturday attacked Congress over the Jawaharlal Nehru University row, saying it should be "ashamed" of Rahul Gandhi's visit to the campus and questioned whether "anti-national slogans" can be called freedom of speech.
Dr Lagoo, who was a trained ENT surgeon, played important role in the growth of theatre movement in Maharashtra in post-Independence era.
MPs asked if the platforms have the right to take down or suspend accounts.
A Delhi court will pass the order on Tuesday on the bail plea of freelance journalist Mandeep Punia arrested by the Delhi Police from the Singhu border protest site here where farmers are agitating against the three contentious agri laws.
'Bommai's predicament is pathetic right now because deep inside he is not like this, but to remain in power he has to talk and speak against his own conscience.'
The Congress and the government engaged in a war of words in Lok Sabha on Tuesday over sedition cases with the opposition party alleging the stringent law is being misused, drawing a sharp retort from Union minister G Kishan Reddy who asked it not to lecture others on democracy.
Eminent poet and writer K Satchidanandan on Saturday resigned from all committees of the Sahitya Akademi, saying the literary body had "failed" in its duty to stand with writers and uphold freedom of expression.
'Given this dissonance between India's age-old multicultural tenets and the anti-minority temper of the present times, it cannot be easy for the BJP to maintain its balancing act to convince the world that all is well,' observes Amulya Ganguli.
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