The Madras High Court has said it is the State’s responsibility to maintain law and order, and that it should not permit any compulsion on artists concerned to withdraw from their stand.
‘Need for precaution’It is important for the authorities to follow certain guidelines so that necessary precautions are taken to nip in the bud attempts to bring pressure on them so that it does not assume the proportion of a law and order scenario.
The freedom of expression of authors and artists should be fully protected, it said.
Elaborating on the freedom of speech enshrined in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, the First Bench of Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana said: “The presumption is bound to be in favour of free speech and expression as envisaged, unless a court of law finds it otherwise as falling within the domain of a reasonable restriction under Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. This presumption must be kept in mind if there are complaints against publications, art, drama, film, song, poem, cartoons or any other creative expressions.”
‘Time to act’Observing that it was time for the government to constitute an expert body to deal with situations arising from such conflicts of views, the Bench added, “Such expert body shall consist of qualified persons in the branch of creative literature and art so that an independent opinion is forthcoming, keeping in mind the law evolved by the judiciary.”
Such an expert body or panel of experts would obviate the kind of situations the court has discussed in the present case.
In such matters of art and culture, the issue could not be left to the police authorities or the local administration alone, especially when there was a spurt in such conflicts, the judges added.
The court also wanted the State to ensure proper police protection when such authors and artistes came under attack from a section of society, besides conducting regular programmes for sensitising officials over matters dealing with such conflicts of artistic and literary appreciation.
Making it clear that the guidelines enumerated should be adhered to and circulated by the State government for the benefit of the police and State authorities, the court directed the government to constitute the expert committee comprising experts from different fields after proper consultations, within a period of three months.
