Assam Government attempting to silence free speech by misusing power: Senior advocate Upamanyu Hazarika

Reacting over the recent arrest of AAP spokesperson in Guwahati, including CBI's summon to a journalist, Senior advocate Upamanyu Hazarika on April 17, strongly condemned the state government for trying to create a rift and tension in the society by silencing free speech.

The comments were made by the senior advocate through an official statement where Hazarika criticized the government’s recent attempt to silence a section of the society who questions government’s policies.

“Criticism by a political party’s spokesperson (Susanta Nath) has landed the spokesperson in jail on charges of promoting enmity between communities and the journalist, Editor of the digital news section of a News Channel (Jitumani Bora) being summoned for questioning by the Crime Branch of Assam Police. This is an ominous portent for freedom of speech, even for press freedom”, he said in an official statement. 

Hazarika continued, “Aam Aadmi Party’s spokesperson Shri Susanta Nath criticized the State Government on an erroneous fact that the Government was commercializing Bihu by selling tickets for the Bihu function at Sarusajai Stadium where a world record was created for the maximum number of dancers in a folk dance. This allegation was carried by the digital section of Prag News, with the qualification that tickets were ‘probably’ being sold for entry into the Stadium. This resulted in registration of a complaint under Section 153A relating to promotion of enmity between different groups and Section 505(2) of the IPC, the offence of statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred between different groups, both these offences being non-bailable”.

“The allegation of the AAP spokesperson was on an innocuous issue of whether entry was free or chargeable into the stadium, where he got his facts wrong. This cannot in any manner lead to invocation of such drastic provisions of creating enmity etc., the whole purpose being to invoke non-bailable provisions so that the spokesperson and the journalist in question could be arrested. While the spokesperson was arrested, subsequently released on bail, the journalist was summoned for questioning / interrogation. These facts can at best furnish a cause of action for instituting a defamation proceeding at the highest, whose maintainability is highly doubtful. This is for the reason that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held in a 1994 judgment (Auto Shankar) that criticism of a public person in the present case the Chief Minister, even if factually wrong would not justify a defamation case unless it was not only factually erroneous but with a reckless disregard for the truth,” stated Hazarika further.

Targeting Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of his own misleading statements and yet escaping the hands of law, Hazarika stated, “If the benchmark of factually erroneous statements attracting drastic provisions of law like the present case are to be applied, then even the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma would be liable as he is prone to making misleading statements. Only recently on 28.02.2023, he tweeted a photograph of a proposed Development Project in the Silsako waterbody (Beel) to justify eviction operations being carried out in the area where he asserted that the photograph was the “model of the proposed Silsako Lake has been designed and it will add to the scenic grandeur…”. He retracted only after it was subsequently pointed out on his tweet by others that this was a photograph of the Kankariya Lake in Gujarat”.

Sighting another example of the state government’s malicious attempt to silence free speech, Hazarika further stated, “Only a few months back 19 years old Barshashree Buragohain from Golaghat was jailed for 63 days because she published a poem on Facebook which had a reference to the sun. The allegation being that the sun is the symbol of ULFA and she was therefore, an ULFA sympathiser”.

Sighting Supreme Court’s repeated warning of state authorities misusing its power, Hazarika said, “The Hon'ble Supreme Court has repeatedly come down heavily on such excessive use of state power which results in infringement of the fundamental right to speech under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India and press freedom. 
In fact, just recently in the case of Media One Channel from Kerala, judgment delivered on 05.04.2023, the Hon'ble Court in a judgment authored by the Hon’ble Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud held, “An independent press is vital for the robust functioning of a democratic republic. Its role in a democratic society is crucial for it shines alight on the functioning of the State. The press has a duty to speak truth to power… denying a security clearance to a media channel on the basis of the views which the channel is constitutionally entitled to hold produces a chilling effect on free speech and in particular, on press freedom. Criticism of Governmental policy can by no stretch of imagination be brought within the fold of any of the grounds stipulated in Article 19(2).” 

“It is travesty of justice that the freedom of speech can be trampled upon in this manner, it is a greater travesty that the police should lend themselves be used in this manner in registering palpably false cases and acting as a complete tool in the hands of the political class”, concluded Hazarika.

Also read : Assam DGP GP Singh releases helpline number for grievances or complaints