Today, the Supreme Court affirmed the freedom of dissent, stating that no criticism is ever offensive. The court further stated that the police ought to be made aware of the constitutionally guaranteed right to free speech, dismissing a case against a man who had made disparaging remarks about the removal of Article 370, which gave Jammu and Kashmir special status.

SC quashed an FIR against Javed Ahmed Hazam, a Kashmiri professor employed at Kolhapur College in Maharashtra. He was charged with a crime after posting a WhatsApp status declaring August 5 to be a “Black Day for Jammu and Kashmir” and celebrating August 14 as Pakistan’s Independence Day.

Declaring August 5th to be a “Black day” was deemed by the court to be a “protest and painful expression.” Happy Independence Day to the people of Pakistan “is a goodwill gesture and cannot be said to create feelings of animosity, hostility, hatred, or ill-will between different religious groups,” the judges continued.

Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression. Every citizen is entitled, under the aforementioned guarantee, to critique the action taken to revoke Article 370 or, for that matter, any decision made by the State. He is free to express his disapproval of any State decision.”

“Now is the time to educate our police machinery about the concept of freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution and the limits of reasonable restraint on them… They should be sensitized about the democratic values enshrined in our Constitution,” said the bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan.