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cheap canada goose uk In the wake of canada goose uk the MeToo movement, the court now has a chance to correct another recent error. In the last few weeks, women who have canada goose outlet store uk come forward to testify about sexual harassment committed by powerful individuals, have had criminal defamation cases filed canada goose outlet belgium against them. Criminal defamation set out under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code canada goose outlet us is an anachronistic, colonial era legal provision, that has been historically used by powerful individuals, corporations, and governments, to silence and suppress inconvenient speech. cheap canada goose uk
canada goose black friday sale Two years ago, the constitutionality of criminal defamation was challenged by a coalition of politicians, organisations and individuals. A two judge bench of the Supreme Court, however, upheld the constitutional validity of https://www.canadagoose-jackets-online.com Section 499, and refused to read in any safeguards to prevent abuse. The court held that criminal defamation struck an appropriate balance between the right to free speech and the right to reputation. canada goose black friday sale
Canada Goose Coats On Sale Even in 2016, the Indian Supreme Court was swimming against the global tide. Countries around the world had been steadily decriminalising defamation, on the basis that the criminal law was a disproportionately severe infringement of free speech, especially for what was essentially a wrong and could be addressed by canada goose outlet authentic a regime of civil defamation. Even the United Kingdom, which gave us our penal code, had decriminalised defamation. And in the time that has passed since the judgment, this has only become more evident: in February 2017, the high court of Kenya, also a former British colony, struck down criminal defamation as unconstitutional, holding that the gamut of arrest, detention, canada goose outlet store calgary remand canada goose parka uk and trial in a criminal case had the effect of chilling speech, and promoting self censorship among people who would not have easy recourse to a lawyer. This would result in citizenry remaining uninformed about matters of public significance and the unquestioned and unchecked continuation of unconscionable malpractices. Then, in May 2018, the Constitutional Court of Lesotho followed suit, also holding that criminalisation was a disproportionately severe burden on speech, and canada goose jacket outlet toronto that reputational interests could be protected by a less onerous regime of civil defamation. Both courts followed the jurisprudence canada goose outlet near me of the African Human Rights Court that had emphatically ruled that criminal defamation was inconsistent with basic international human rights standards. Canada Goose Coats On Sale
buy canada goose jacket cheap It is, therefore, clear that, across the world, more and more countries are acknowledging that modern, democratic nations do not jail people for things they might say about others. India is no different: our Constitution guarantees a right to freedom of speech and expression, which can only canada goose sale uk be restricted by a law. Our Supreme Court most recently in its judgment on Aadhaar has held that an essential facet of reasonableness is that a law must not infringe rights to a degree greater than is strictly necessary to achieve its goal. canada goose outlet In other words, if there exists an alternative mechanism that can also achieve the goal without compromising on individual liberty to such a degree, canada goose jacket outlet the impugned law must be struck down. Criminal defamation which is targeted at punishing what is essentially a private wrong (a wrong that one person commits upon another, rather than upon society) is a stark example of a law that disproportionately affects the freedom of speech. buy canada goose jacket cheap
cheap Canada Goose Legislators have recognised this as well. Last year, Tathagat canada goose outlet canada Satpathy introduced into Parliament the Bill which aimed to replace criminal defamation with canada goose outlet michigan a detailed, statutorily codified regime of civil defamation. The bill is pending consideration. But the recent spate of cases in the wake of MeToo gives the court, which recently invalidated two colonial era rights invasive provisions Section 377 and Section 497 (adultery) to complete a canada goose outlet real hat trick, and canada goose outlet germany in the process, once again cement its reputation as an institution that sheds its own past, and evolves towards greater protection of rights cheap Canada Goose.