Editors Guild of India has right to free speech, says CJI

Subject: Polity

Section: Constitution

Context:

Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said the Editors Guild of India (EGI) may be right or wrong in its report about “partisan media coverage” of the Manipur violence, but it has a right to free speech to put forth its views in print.

SC grills complainants:

EGI visited the manipur post violence for “objective assessment” of the “unethical and ex parte reporting” and published a report manipur violence, against which several FIRs were filed against the President and senior journalists of EGI on the pretext that it violates the section 153A and section 200 of the IPC.
Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code: promoting enmity between different groups.
Section 200 IPC: giving false declaration to a court.
Section 298: deliberate intent to wound religious feelings
SC said: Media briefings, editorials and reports may go wrong, it is a part of free speech.

Constitutional bearing of Freedom of Expression:

Article 19 (a) of the Indian constitution guarantees to every citizen of India the Freedom of speech and expression.
It is a fundamental Right of the Indian Constitution.

Freedom of press:

Freedom of press is not specifically mentioned in article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution and what is mentioned there is only freedom of speech and expression.
In the Constituent Assembly Debates it was made clear by Dr. Ambedkar, Chairman of the Drafting Committee, that no special mention of the freedom of press was necessary at all as the press and an individual or a citizen were the same as far as their right of expression was concerned.

Press Freedom Index & India’s performance:

In the 2022 edition of the Press Freedom Index which is published by Reporters Without Borders, India ranked at the 150th position, eight positions lower than last year.

Editors Guild of India (EGI):

Founded in 1978 with the twin objectives of protecting press freedom and for raising the standards of editorial leadership of newspapers and magazines.
The Editors Guild took up the issues of abuse of press freedom with the Parliament and Executive, and campaigned hard for restoring the press freedom and other freedoms which had been taken away by amendments to the Constitution, executive orders and judicial pronouncements.
The freedom to report proceedings of Parliament (Feroze Gandhi Act) which was taken away in 1976 was restored.

National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW):

NFIW is a women’s organisation in India, the women’s wing of the Communist Party of India.
It was established in 1954 June 4 by several leaders from Mahila Atma Raksha Samiti including Aruna Asaf Ali.
Annie Raja is the current General Secretary and Aruna Roy is the current president of NFIW.
It is associated with the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) (an international organization with the stated goal of working for women’s rights established in 1945).
HQ: Delhi