Ever since the Ethanol, E-20 policy came into existence, it is being criticized a lot on social media. People are making videos and posting them on their social media claiming mileage has decreased. Companies are giving statements. The government is also saying that there will be some impact on mileage but it will not be much. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is also facing trolling for the policy. Now legal action has also started on this entire matter.
Nagpur’s Cyber Police has registered an FIR against 4 content creators, in which the name of Manish Kashyap is also included. Police registered an FIR on the complaint of BJP social media convener of Nagpur, in which he said that misleading news is being spread regarding the policy. Nitin Gadkari is being targeted. Now the question here is that when can an FIR be filed for speaking against ethanol? Can’t one speak against the government’s policy? What are the legal rules related to this? Let us understand all these in detail.
freedom of speech
On this Supreme Court lawyer Dhruv Gupta Says that merely questioning a Union Minister or criticizing a government policy is not, in itself, a criminal offense under Indian law. Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution grants every citizen the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression, which includes, without any doubt, the right to criticize the Government, its policies and public officials.
- Any restriction on this right must be strictly within the ambit of Article 19(2), which allows for justified restrictions only on certain grounds, such as defamation, public order, incitement to commit an offence, sovereignty and integrity of India, or security of the State.
- He said that the Supreme Court has consistently held that in democratic politics, government officials are subject to greater public scrutiny and criticism and that criticism, no matter how sharp or strange, cannot be criminalized merely because it is against people holding public office.
When can the case happen?
Dhruv Gupta Said that the constitutional protection given under Article 19(1)(a) does not apply to such speech which is clearly false, ill-intentioned or falls within the exceptions considered under Article 19(2). Therefore, criminal liability cannot arise merely because a person has opposed or questioned the ethanol policy of the government or criticized a Union Minister. The prosecution must prove that the speech in question falls under a specific penal provision, such as criminal defamation under Sections 356-359 of the Indian Judicial Code, 2023, or some other offense created by law depending on the facts.
The expert said that the legality of the FIR will ultimately depend not on the fact of the criticism, but on whether the prosecution can show that the statements in question have crossed the constitutional limit of protected political speech and become a legally recognized criminal offence. Registration of FIR is only the beginning of an investigation and cannot be considered as detection of criminality in itself.
Nitin Gadkari also warned of FIR
It is viral on all social media about the Union Minister and his son that his son’s earnings are increasing due to this. Reacting to this, in a recent TV interview he said that the figures being reported regarding the income and profits of my son Nikhil Gadkari’s company are not correct. He told the anchor that wherever this data was taken from, if it was repeated again, he could file a defamation case.
Leave a Reply