GS Mains Model Question & Answer: Discuss India’s sedition law (Section 124A of IPC) as one of the biggest threats to the freedom of speech and expression in India.
Q. Discuss India’s sedition law (Section 124A of IPC) as one of the biggest threats to the freedom of speech and expression in India. (12.5 Marks)
(General Studies Mains Paper II- Polity: Fundamental Rights)
Model Answer :
Right to Free Speech
Freedom of expression is protected under the Indian constitution and international treaties to which India is a party. Successive governments have made commitments to protect freedom of expression.
Free speech is a means to the truth; a pursuit of individual self-fulfilment and an important means by which democratic self-governance is made possible. Its role in personal, social and political life inevitably brings it into conflict with the state, with diverse shades of opinions in the marketplace of ideas and the ways in which free expression impacts the established order.
In a modern democracy like India definitely there could be difference of opinion but the beauty of democratic discourse lies in accommodating multiple views, debates and discussions. “Hate Speech” is freedom of speech to the extent that the language used does not incite or encourage violence or violation of the law.