Context:
- SC was hearing a petition to ban a book which is critical about the caste system prevailing in India, especially in the Arya Vysya community.
SC views:
- “Any request for banning a book of the present nature has to be strictly scrutinized because every author or writer has a fundamental right to speak out ideas freely and express thoughts adequately. Curtailment of an individual writer/author’s right to freedom of speech and expression should never be lightly viewed,”
- It is not up to the Supreme Court to use its powers to ban books, which are a free expression of a writer’s thoughts and feelings about the society and world he lives in. Courts cannot be asked to gag free expression.
- The Supreme Court has always placed the fundamental right to free speech at the highest pedestal.
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