Justice K. Sujana of the Telangana High Court upheld citizens’ conditional rights to sloganeering in public. She quashed a criminal complaint against members of Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika facing trial before the first Additional Metropolitan Magistrate, Hyderabad.
They were charged with proposing a protest programme at the Ambedkar Statue in May 2019, protesting against the arrest of professor Sai Baba and Varavara Rao, who were arrested by the Maharashtra government. It stated in the complaint that the named persons along with others without permission started a dharna, obstructed the free traffic and caused public nuisance. Thirteen members were shifted to the police station and 18 others again assembled constituting what the police called an unlawful assembly.
The petitioner contended that the entire prosecution was misconceived. The protest itself shows that there was no obstruction of traffic. It was also contended that the entire evidence of the police constabulary and that no member of the general public was examined.
Allowing the quash proceedings the judge referred to the verdict of the apex court that Article 19 of the Constitution confers freedom of speech to the citizen of the country and thus this provision ensures that the petitioners could raise slogan albeit in a peaceful and in orderly manner without using offensive language. “In the present case, there are no allegations that these petitioners used offensive language and there is no evidence to show that.
