Give me the liberty to know, to utter and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” -John Milton, Areopagitica.

It seems freedom of speech has turned out to be a principle only on papers because the very basic idea of ‘freedom to articulate one’s opinions and ideas without the fear of retaliation, censorship or sanction’ is being tampered with. The very question that arises here, who gives the other a right to stifle voices and take law in their own hands? However, the current socio-political situation is so aggressively driven, that any new topic is sensitized or more accurately speaking ‘aggravated’. There have been many instances wherein opinions are better portrayed in a hush-hush manner or the speaker (any mode of expression) becomes a victim of hooliganism (read people receive death threats as a matter of fact). Freedom of speech however does not grant the right to threaten, terrorize, dehumanize or deprive someone with contrasting beliefs from his right to speak and express.

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There are several instances that have taken the nation by storm when these acts weren’t taken into consideration. In the year 2012, a young professor was arrested for forwarding an uncomplimentary caricature of their Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee.  Such instances have become a dime a dozen, so much so that, that the current milieu makes it increasingly difficult for one to voice their opinions without going unscathed.  Another close look into dozens of such tantamount episodes throws light on arrests on ‘account of coming up with a burlesque of anything that holds political or religious relevance.’ What people fail to understand here is that such parodies aren’t targeted at offending or triggering somebody’s personal sentiments, they are what they claim to be -a parody.  In what meant a silent exit for the Facebook page ‘Humans of Hindutva’, the episode has turned out to be one glaring example of the drubbing of freedom of speech. The page’s administrator called it quits owing to the innumerable verbal threats he received. Though one Facebook account being deactivated seems just an easily forgettable issue, the question here arises is ‘are we not allowed to pass a harmless quip?’ Undeniably, the common people of the society have found a way to lament through trolls or as a reflection of the tribulations they happen to undergo.

A startling poll by the Inshorts news app claims a striking 55% people in our nation feel they have no right to express freely. In another report by The Times of India, around half the respondents have claimed that their freedom of speech is being curtailed.

Such threats to freedom of speech, writing or action are in one way or the other a disrespect to the rights of the citizens and public liberty.