A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will examine whether Kerala Electricity Minister M.M. Mani has an unlimited freedom of speech to make “abusive” remarks against women, government officials and others.
A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra has tagged a petition by Joseph Shine, alleging that Mr. Mani’s “objectionable and abusive language” offends his constitutional duties as a Minister, besides violating all principles of morality and decency, with an earlier plea filed against former Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan.
To him, it was a conspiracy
Mr. Khan had termed the gruesome Bulandshahr gangrape as a “political conspiracy” against the then Samajwadi Party which was in power in Uttar Pradesh.
One of the questions placed before the Constitution Bench is whether “the State, the protector of citizens and responsible for the law and order situation, should allow these comments as they have the potentiality to create a distrust in the mind of the victim as regards the fair investigation and, in a way, the entire system?”
Another point the Constitution Bench would cover is whether such derogatory comments by persons in power “defeat the concept of constitutional compassion and also conception of constitutional sensitivity.”
Challenging the Kerala High Court’s dismissal of his case, the petitioner, Joseph Shine, represented by advocates Kaleeswaram Raj and Suvidutt M.S., on Friday, argued that “free speech has constitutional limits as prescribed by Article 19(2) of the Constitution and Mr. Mani has crossed all permissible limits in his speech, in uttering derogatory words against specific individuals, government officials and against the society, in general.”
They argued before the CJI Bench that Mr. Mani’s various remarks showed “total disregard and contempt to the dignity of individuals.”
The advocates argued that the High Court did not consider that every statement made by a Minister is attributable to the government. The Kerala Chief Minister is also arraigned as a party in Mr. Shine’s petition.