Basu, S. orcid.org/0000-0001-5863-854X and Sen, S. (2024) Silenced Voices: Unravelling India's Dissent Crisis Through Historical and Contemporary Analysis of Free Speech and Suppression. Information and Communications Technology Law, 33 (1). pp. 42-65. ISSN 1360-0834
Abstract
In India, the world’s largest democracy, the right to express dissenting opinions has come under increasing pressure due to governmental reactions to violent and non-violent activities and opposition. As well as direct suppression, a concerning trend has arisen whereby individuals and groups may choose to self-censor rather than risk the consequences of speaking out. These outcomes are related in this paper to the treatment of social media, where official policies and laws regulate and censor content on social media on the dubious basis that it is ‘offensive’ or ‘objectionable’. These restraints often lack clear guidelines and are applied arbitrarily, leading to a chilling effect on free speech and the expression of dissenting views. Furthermore, India lacks a comprehensive legal framework to address hate speech, resulting in a patchwork of provisions within the Indian Penal Code that inadequately define and circumscribe hate speech. This article contends that the ‘freedom to criticise’ should be legally better protected to ensure that diverse opinions can be safely held and expressed in order to maintain and reflect the pluralistic nature of Indian democracy.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
Keywords: | India; freedom of speech and expression; freedom to criticise; Indian Constitution; democracy |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Law (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 21 Aug 2023 13:00 |
Last Modified: | 07 May 2024 13:51 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/13600834.2023.2249780 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:202546 |