Persons of influence have to be responsible about freedom of speech: SC

Persons of influence owe a duty and have to be more responsible while exercising the right to free speech keeping in view their reach, impact and authority they yield on the general public, the Supreme Court said on Monday.

The top court dealt with various aspects of free speech and the hate speech and said that later has no “redeeming or legitimate purpose other than hatred towards a particular group”.

“In a polity committed to pluralism, hate speech cannot conceivably contribute in any legitimate way to democracy and, in fact,repudiates the right to equality,” it said.

The observations were expressed by the top court in its judgement by which it refused to quash several FIRs lodged against TV anchor Amish Devgan for his alleged defamatory remarks on Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti during a show on June 15.