Judicial curbs on media are wrong

India’s higher judiciary enjoys a certain reputation because it is the guardian of laws in a free country, unlike national jurisdictions in our neighbourhood and elsewhere. This casts on our high courts and the Supreme Court the responsibility to uphold republican sentiments, to protect from challenge the spirit of free expression (which, needless to say, goes with reasonable restrictions), and to safeguard the freedom of the press which flows from the freedom of expression which is critical to the sustenance of the democratic order. Alas, worrisome judicial pronouncements and deliberations in recent days oblige us to caution that it is incumbent on the judges to give a more liberal account of themselves.

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