License To Protest: Examining The Role Of Courts In Safeguarding India's Right To Dissent
5 months, 1 week ago

License To Protest: Examining The Role Of Courts In Safeguarding India's Right To Dissent

Live Law  

Part III Action Research & Resource Centre has unveiled the second volume of its Samvidhan Series, titled “License to Protest: Examining the Role of Constitutional Courts in Upholding the Right to Protest.” The report was launched at the Constitution Club of India, featuring a panel discussion with renowned figures including Justice Madan B. Lokur, Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar, Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh, Meera Sanghamitra, and Dr. Alana Golmei. Curtailing the Right Through Public Interest Litigation Justice Madan B. Lokur emphasized a growing concern about the misuse of Public Interest Litigations to suppress protests rather than uphold the rights of vulnerable communities. The report reveals that while courts sometimes support the right to protest, they seldom challenge this "permission-based regime," allowing police excessive control over the public's right to assemble. Balancing the Right to Protest with Public Order The report concludes by calling for a more balanced approach to regulating protests, one that ensures public order concerns do not overshadow the fundamental right to dissent.

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History of this topic

Karnataka HC grants permission for ‘Justice for Sowjanya’ protest in Bengaluru's Freedom Park
1 week, 4 days ago

Karnataka HC grants permission for ‘Justice for Sowjanya’ protest in Bengaluru's Freedom Park

Hindustan Times  

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday granted permission for a peaceful protest at Freedom Park, Bengaluru, in connection with the ongoing demand for justice in the Sowjanya case. Karnataka High Court The protest is being organised to demand justice for Soujanya, a second-year Pre-University student of the Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College who was allegedly raped and murder on October 9, …

If The Mindset To Stifle Right To Protest Gets Traction, It Would Be A Sad Day For Democracy: Bombay High Court
2 weeks, 4 days ago

If The Mindset To Stifle Right To Protest Gets Traction, It Would Be A Sad Day For Democracy: Bombay High Court

Live Law  

In a significant order, the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court has said that the mindset to 'dilute' or 'stifle' the the fundamental right to protest of citizens, if gains traction, it would one of the saddest days of democracy.A division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Mahesh Sonak said the State must not launch prosecution only to …

Citizens’ liberty cannot be curtailed for participating in stir, says Kerala High Court
3 weeks, 5 days ago

Citizens’ liberty cannot be curtailed for participating in stir, says Kerala High Court

The Hindu  

The liberty of a citizen cannot be curtailed in a casual manner by referring to crimes related to public demonstrations, the Kerala High Court has held. The order was based on a report of the Station House Officer of Kolathur Police Station which stated that the 24-year-old woman was repeatedly indulging in illegal activities and was likely to cause breach …

Bengaluru trade unions, activists demand withdrawal of protest licensing order
3 months, 4 weeks ago

Bengaluru trade unions, activists demand withdrawal of protest licensing order

New Indian Express  

BENGALURU: Horaatada Hakkigagi Janandolana, a coalition of trade unions, women’s rights, queer rights, slum and Dalit organisations, and civil liberties groups demanded the withdrawal of the Licensing and Regulation of Protests, Demonstrations, and Protest Marches Order, 2021, which confines protests to Freedom Park. Protests, once a vibrant expression of democratic dissent across Bengaluru, are now designated to only Freedom Park, …

Judicial Review of Restrictions on Protests: A Critical Examination of the Role of Constitutional Courts in Safeguarding India's Right to Dissent
5 months, 1 week ago

Judicial Review of Restrictions on Protests: A Critical Examination of the Role of Constitutional Courts in Safeguarding India's Right to Dissent

Live Law  

The Samvidhan Series report, titled 'License to Protest: Examining the Role of Constitutional Courts in Upholding the Right to Protest,' sheds light on the evolving judicial stance on the right to protest in India. The report scrutinizes over 60 judgments from the Supreme Court and High Courts, highlighting how courts have increasingly restricted the right to protest through legal regulations. …

Farmers' Protests: The Constitutional Limits on the Government's Use of Force
1 year, 1 month ago

Farmers' Protests: The Constitutional Limits on the Government's Use of Force

The Quint  

The Indian Constitution’s Preamble and other articles establish India as a modern liberal democracy based on the idea of the rule of law and freedom for all. While citizens in modern liberal democracies enjoy a wide array of rights and freedoms, the right to use force is exclusively with the government. The social contract, it is assumed, was entered into …

Anita Anand | Protests, and how to handle them: A wake-up call for all governments
1 year, 9 months ago

Anita Anand | Protests, and how to handle them: A wake-up call for all governments

Deccan Chronicle  

Growing up in rural West Bengal, I first encountered protests when I heard the word “gherao”, which literally means “to encircle”. Two recent and substantial protests in India were against the Central government’s proposed policies or policies adopted without sufficient interaction with the concerned parties: the Citizenship Amendment Act and the three farm bills. In December 2019, the government proceeded …

Andhra Pradesh High Court Sets Aside Government Order Aimed At Restricting Holding Of Rallies, Meetings On Public Roads
1 year, 10 months ago

Andhra Pradesh High Court Sets Aside Government Order Aimed At Restricting Holding Of Rallies, Meetings On Public Roads

Live Law  

The Andhra Pradesh High Court today quashed a government order that aimed to regulate the rallies and meetings on public roads, observing that the net effect of the decision is to impose a ban on all meetings at public highways, state highways, municipal and panchayat roads. If the political history of contemporary Andhra Pradesh is also considered, it is clear …

'Peaceful Protest One's Constitutional Right' : Former CJI UU Lalit On Rampant Use Of Section 144 CrPC By Delhi Police
2 years ago

'Peaceful Protest One's Constitutional Right' : Former CJI UU Lalit On Rampant Use Of Section 144 CrPC By Delhi Police

Live Law  

Former Chief Justice of India UU Lalit expressed concerns over the indiscriminate invocation of Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by the Delhi police in the national capital. This kind of power in a country governed by rule of law and democracy is not acceptable.” Lalit was speaking on Saturday at a launch of a report titled ‘The …

How Constitutional Right To Hold Peaceful Demonstration Can Be Curtailed? Calcutta High Court To Police On CPI(M) Leader's Plea
2 years, 1 month ago

How Constitutional Right To Hold Peaceful Demonstration Can Be Curtailed? Calcutta High Court To Police On CPI(M) Leader's Plea

Live Law  

The Calcutta High Court has asked the West Bengal Police why it refused permission to CPI leader Tushar Kanti Ghosh to hold a peaceful demonstration in Bhangore area of South 24 Parganas district. A single judge bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha directed the Inspector-in-charge of Bhangore Police Station to explain: “as to how the constitutional right to hold a peaceful …

Dissent Is Extension Of Right To Freedom Of Speech And Expression, We Are Sworn To Uphold It: Delhi Court
2 years, 1 month ago

Dissent Is Extension Of Right To Freedom Of Speech And Expression, We Are Sworn To Uphold It: Delhi Court

Live Law  

Observing that dissent has to be encouraged and not stifled, a Delhi Court has said that dissent has to be given space and a forum because it is “reflective of something which pricks a citizen's conscience.”Additional Sessions Judge Arul Varma of Saket Courts observed that dissent is nothing but an extension of the “invaluable fundamental right to freedom of speech …

After Police Denies Permission For 'Pride March', Karnataka HC Clarifies Its Order Limiting Protests To Freedom Park
2 years, 3 months ago

After Police Denies Permission For 'Pride March', Karnataka HC Clarifies Its Order Limiting Protests To Freedom Park

Live Law  

The Karnataka High Court has made it clear that its order dated August 1 restricting protests, marches and dharanas to only Freedom Park in Bengaluru is not applicable to Celebratory marches. After the Police refused permission for 'Pride March', a division bench of Justices Alok Aradhe and S Vishwajith Shetty clarified that the words 'protests, marches and dharanas' in its …

Aakar Patel | Protests can’t be limited only to ‘designated’ areas in India
2 years, 6 months ago

Aakar Patel | Protests can’t be limited only to ‘designated’ areas in India

Deccan Chronicle  

India’s Supreme Court has generously allowed citizens the right to protest “in designated areas”. What the Supreme Court has observed or ordered in the matter of Shaheen Bagh doesn’t apply to political parties and more organised forces like farmers’ unions and caste groups. If the Supreme Court kicks the can down the road on habeas corpus, if the home minister …

Courts Have Internalised the Logic That Dissenters Are A Threat : Pratap Bhanu Mehta
4 years, 3 months ago

Courts Have Internalised the Logic That Dissenters Are A Threat : Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Live Law  

"Courts have internalized the logic that dissenters are a threat", said political theorist Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta at the 3rd Project 39A Annual Lecture in Criminal Law. Recalling that the Supreme Court, while adjudicating upon the Bhima Koregaon case, had stated that "dissent was thesafety valve of a democracy", Mehta talked about the relation between dissent and anxiety. Mehta then …

Propositions Like Holding Protests At 'Designated Places Alone' Shall Upset The Concept Of Dissent: Review Petition In Supreme Court Against Shaheen Bagh Judgement
4 years, 4 months ago

Propositions Like Holding Protests At 'Designated Places Alone' Shall Upset The Concept Of Dissent: Review Petition In Supreme Court Against Shaheen Bagh Judgement

Live Law  

A review petition has been filed before the Supreme Court against its verdict in the case pertaining to the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi. In October 2020, a three Judge Bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice SK Kaul had held that the right to peaceful protest against a legislation exists, but the demonstrations expressing dissent have to be …

The right balance: The Hindu Editorial on Shaheen Bagh and the right to protest
4 years, 5 months ago

The right balance: The Hindu Editorial on Shaheen Bagh and the right to protest

The Hindu  

Long after Shaheen Bagh became a potent symbol of democratic resistance against a discriminatory law, the Supreme Court has ventured to hold that any such indefinite blockade of a public pathway is unacceptable. On the face of it, the Court’s view arises from a straightforward balancing of two contrasting rights — the right to protest and the right to free …

[Shaheen Bagh] Demonstrations Expressing Dissent Have To Be In Designated Places Alone: SC [Read Judgment]
4 years, 5 months ago

[Shaheen Bagh] Demonstrations Expressing Dissent Have To Be In Designated Places Alone: SC [Read Judgment]

Live Law  

The Supreme Court has observed that the right to peaceful protest against a legislation exists, but the demonstrations expressing dissent have to be in designated places alone.The bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Aniruddha Bose and Krishna Murari observed that the mode and manner of dissent against colonial rule cannot be equated with dissent in a self-ruled democracy. The Supreme …

Shaheen Bagh | Balance right to protest with right to movement: Supreme Court
4 years, 6 months ago

Shaheen Bagh | Balance right to protest with right to movement: Supreme Court

The Hindu  

The Supreme Court on Monday said the right to protest needs to be balanced with the right to movement of the public. A Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul was hearing a petition filed over seven months ago to shift the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protestors of Shaheen Bagh, most of them mothers and their children, to an alternative site …

[Shaheen Bagh Protests] SC Reserves Judgment On The Need To Balance Right To Protest With Right To Mobility For Others
4 years, 6 months ago

[Shaheen Bagh Protests] SC Reserves Judgment On The Need To Balance Right To Protest With Right To Mobility For Others

Live Law  

The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its judgment on the aspect of "the need to balance the right to protest with the right of mobility by other people" in the plea which had sought an urgent direction for immediate dispersal of Shaheen Bagh protestors or any other such sites amid the pandemic situation.A bench led by Justice SK Kaul orally …

India’s police ‘complicit’ in anti-Muslim riots, alleges Amnesty
4 years, 7 months ago

India’s police ‘complicit’ in anti-Muslim riots, alleges Amnesty

Al Jazeera  

The rights group calls on the gov’t to investigate the alleged human rights violations committed by the police. Police in Delhi were “complicit and an active participant” in the February violence in which 53 people, mostly Muslims, were killed, according to an investigation by Amnesty International India. “The Delhi police personnel were complicit and an active participant in the violence …

How Shaheen Bagh Protestors Got Tacit Support From the Judiciary
5 years ago

How Shaheen Bagh Protestors Got Tacit Support From the Judiciary

The Quint  

Upon hearing the counsel on 17 February, and appointing advocates Sanjay R Hegde, who was “present in Court” and Sadhana Ramachandran, an expert at mediation, interlocutors “to make the persons at site see reason” the court decreed, “ Application for intervention has been filed by Ms Tasneem Ahmadi, learned counsel seeking to intervene in the matter on behalf of certain …

[CAA] Salve Finds Nothing Discriminatory, While Suhrith Calls It Unconstitutional: Madras HC Says Both Sides Should Be Allowed To Articulate Their Views [Read Order]
5 years ago

[CAA] Salve Finds Nothing Discriminatory, While Suhrith Calls It Unconstitutional: Madras HC Says Both Sides Should Be Allowed To Articulate Their Views [Read Order]

Live Law  

The Madras High Court, while granting permission to conduct Anti CAA protests and Pro CAA public meetings observed that India being a vibrant and functioning democracy ought to allow both to articulate their respective side. While disposing of a writ petition seeking permission to hold public meetings condemning the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, Justice GR Swaminathan observed: No one. While …

[CAA Protests] 'Section 144 Order Imposed In Bengaluru In December Illegal' : Karnataka HC [Read Judgment]
5 years, 1 month ago

[CAA Protests] 'Section 144 Order Imposed In Bengaluru In December Illegal' : Karnataka HC [Read Judgment]

Live Law  

The bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Pradeep Singh Yerur while hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the order had observed; "We are not concerned with the subject of the protests, our concern is about decision making process which undoubtedly curtails the fundamental rights. Issue whether permission granted can be revoked by passing order under section 144 and …

[Anti-CAA Protests] Police Attacked' Peaceful Protestors, Prevented Constitutional Rights': Chairman Of Delhi Minorities Committee Writes To CJI Seeking Action
5 years, 2 months ago

[Anti-CAA Protests] Police Attacked' Peaceful Protestors, Prevented Constitutional Rights': Chairman Of Delhi Minorities Committee Writes To CJI Seeking Action

Live Law  

Chairman of the Delhi Minorities Committee, Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan has strongly criticized the alleged police brutalities and state In a letter addressed to CJI SA Bobde, Dr. Khan has condemned the manner in which the Police allegedly tried to mute the dissenting voices, by unnecessarily imposing Section 144 and resorting to excessive use of force. During the current peaceful …

Opinion | Dissent is honourable, your honour
5 years, 10 months ago

Opinion | Dissent is honourable, your honour

Live Mint  

A day after Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi got a clean chit on allegations of sexual harassment against him, a group of young women and some men held protests, raising objections to the way in which the case was handled. They gathered outside the apex court carrying placards such as “Supremacy of Rule of law must be maintained” and …

Voices In Opposition Can’t Be Muzzled By Persecuting Those Who Take Up Unpopular Causes: Justice Chandrachud’s 2nd Dissent In The Week
6 years, 6 months ago

Voices In Opposition Can’t Be Muzzled By Persecuting Those Who Take Up Unpopular Causes: Justice Chandrachud’s 2nd Dissent In The Week

Live Law  

Unable to agree with the views of the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justice A M Khanwilkar “as a matter of principle”, Justice Chandrachud today observed that “dissent is a symbol of vibrant democracy” and “voices in opposition cannot be muzzled by persecuting those who take up unpopular causes” to hold that a Special Investigating Team must be …

Demonstrations Which Create Disturbance To Public Not Protected Under Article 19(1):SC
7 years ago

Demonstrations Which Create Disturbance To Public Not Protected Under Article 19(1):SC

Live Law  

Supreme Court of India on Friday observed that demonstrations are also a mode of expression of the rights guaranteed under Article 19 and the demonstrations whether political, religious or social or other demonstrations which create public, disturbances or operate as nuisances, or create or manifestly threaten some tangible public or private mischief, are not covered by protection. Supreme Court of …

Demonstrations Which Create Disturbance To Public Not Protected Under Article 19(1):SC
7 years ago

Demonstrations Which Create Disturbance To Public Not Protected Under Article 19(1):SC

Live Law  

Supreme Court of India on Friday observed that demonstrations are also a mode of expression of the rights guaranteed under Article 19 and the demonstrations whether political, religious or social or other demonstrations which create public, disturbances or operate as nuisances, or create or manifestly threaten some tangible public or private mischief, are not covered by protection. Supreme Court of …

SC Issues Notice To Centre On Plea Challenging Delhi Police’s Blanket Ban On Right To Protest U/S 144, CrPC [Read Petition]
7 years, 3 months ago

SC Issues Notice To Centre On Plea Challenging Delhi Police’s Blanket Ban On Right To Protest U/S 144, CrPC [Read Petition]

Live Law  

The Supreme Court bench of Justice AK Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan on Monday admitted and issued notice to the Centre and the Commissioner of Police of Delhi on a writ petition filed by the NGO Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan challenging the arbitrary and repeated imposition of police orders under section 144, CrPC by which, virtually, the entire Central Delhi …

Public Protests Cannot Hold Rule Of Law For Ransom And Negate Statutory Mandate: Kerala HC
7 years, 8 months ago

Public Protests Cannot Hold Rule Of Law For Ransom And Negate Statutory Mandate: Kerala HC

Live Law  

While allowing a writ petition filed seeking police protection for the functioning of an M-Sand Manufacturing unit, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court stated that however justified an instance of protest is, it cannot hold the rule of law for ransom and negate the statutory mandate. Yet if faced difficulties in commencing operation, as several local residents started …

Public Protests Cannot Hold Rule Of Law For Ransom And Negate Statutory Mandate: Kerala HC
7 years, 8 months ago

Public Protests Cannot Hold Rule Of Law For Ransom And Negate Statutory Mandate: Kerala HC

Live Law  

While allowing a writ petition filed seeking police protection for the functioning of an M-Sand Manufacturing unit, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court stated that however justified an instance of protest is, it cannot hold the rule of law for ransom and negate the statutory mandate. Yet if faced difficulties in commencing operation, as several local residents started …

Dissent gagged: Ambiguity of free speech laws in India
7 years, 11 months ago

Dissent gagged: Ambiguity of free speech laws in India

Firstpost  

Editor’s Note: A nation’s legal system is integral to how its citizens look upon issues that concern the country in general and their individual lives in particular. Article 19 allows the state to make laws that restrict freedom of speech so long as they impose reasonable restrictions in the “interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of …

In the interests of public order
9 years, 1 month ago

In the interests of public order

Live Mint  

There has been much furore about the home ministry’s recent decision to arrest Jawaharlal Nehru University students on the ground of sedition for allegedly chanting “anti-national” slogans. However, the Constitution lists various reasons for Parliament to create “reasonable restrictions” for each of these different rights. The reasons for restricting the right to free speech were significantly expanded by the 1st …

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