Supreme Court judge says criticism of government, army, judiciary cannot be construed as sedition
Supreme Court judge Justice Deepak Gupta said on Saturday that Indian citizens have the right to criticise the government, and such criticism cannot be construed as sedition, The Indian Express reported. He was addressing a lawyers’ workshop organised by a charitable trust in Ahmedabad.
Gupta clarified at the beginning of his speech, titled “Sedition and Freedom of Expression”, that his views were personal and not in his official capacity as a judge of the Supreme Court. “Criticism of the executive, the judiciary, the bureaucracy, the armed forces cannot be termed sedition,” Gupta said. “If we stifle criticism of these institutions, we shall become a police state instead of a democracy.”
“For me, there is a very important right which is not spelt out in the Constitution… the right of freedom of opinion, the right of freedom of conscience, by themselves, include the most important right: the right to dissent,” Gupta said.…
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