Freedom of speech & expression non-negotiable, says Tewari

Freedom of speech and expression are non negotiable entities and there is a need to find a ‘golden mean’ between this freedom and reasonable restrictions, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said.

‘I think at that at the end of the day there will be anybody who will say that the freedom of speech or expression is negotiable by any stretch of imagination. That is a complete non sequitur,’ Tewari said.

‘The debate really is not about reasonable restrictions ... The debate is about finding the golden mean. To what extent the freedom of speech and expression extend and where do reasonable restrictions take over. And who ultimately will police that space of reasonable restrictions.’ He was speaking at a function organised by Press Council of India to mark National Press Day. ‘Over the last one decade, technological innovation has been so rapid that I don’t that either regulation or human ingenuity has been able to keep pace with it. There is a whole new paradigm in the social media space which has emerged whereby everybody has the ability to be a broadcaster at time with responsibility, at times without restraint,’ Tewari said.