Right to free speech not absolute, denies pre-arrest bail: SC

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court said on Friday that the right to free speech is not unfettered and denied anticipatory bail to a Bengaluru-based 24-year-old chartered accountancy student, who, on his parody account 'Jawaharlal Nehru Satire' on X, had posted about the PM and his mother.

The court said the student can approach Gujarat HC for relief.

"People who abuse free speech cannot be extended discretionary relief by the courts," said SC.

SC: Right to free speech not absolute, denies pre-arrest bail

Supreme Court said on Friday that the right to free speech is not unfettered and denied anticipatory bail to a Bengaluru-based 24-year-old chartered accountancy student, who, on his parody account 'Jawaharlal Nehru Satire' on X, had posted about the PM and his mother. The court said the student can approach Gujarat HC for relief.

"People who abuse free speech cannot be extended discretionary relief by the courts," said SC. It dismissed the petition which had sought quashing of the FIR registered by Ahmedabad police and refused to accede to his request for grant of anticipatory bail or protection from arrest to enable him to join investigation. Counsel for the accused said the man only put a question to a post which he had not generated.

"For this he is being accused of outraging the woman's modesty. Police from Gujarat visited his house and he was detained at a Bengaluru police station without following the procedure of law," he said. "Police are threatening that they will arrest him. He is ready to cooperate with the investigation but requires protection from arrest," the counsel said.

The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholisaid, "You do not have any sense of remorse or repentance for the abusive words you used against her." The counsel said he is just a student and is repentant about his post and requested the court to at least protect him from arrest.

The bench said, "Petitioner who has abused his free speech right cannot be extended discretionary relief by the court."

An Ahmedabad resident on Nov 7 filed a police complaint that the accused had posted defamatory content against the PM and his mother to "harm their dignity, reputation and tarnish India's standing in the international community". Police registered an FIR and went to Bengaluru to question the accused. X has withheld the account after registration of the FIR.

The petitioner alleged that in violation of his fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21, of the Constitution, Ahmedabad police, in league with Bengaluru cops, illegally took him to cyber crime police station and threatened him with arrest.
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