Consequences for Liberty and Freedom of Speech
The consequences of the courts failing to do their job are not something which can be easily forgotten or rectified. As the top court said in Arnab’s case:
The Sessions Judge in the penultimate paragraph of his order, points out that another FIR had been registered in April 2020, against Munawar Faruqui in Prayagraj, for a YouTube video. However, section 437 (1)(ii) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) provides that even if there is a previous case, this is not some absolute ground to deny bail.
In fact, the way in which the UP Police have suddenly woken up to that case and are asking the Madhya Pradesh courts to grant them custody of Faruqui nine months from the registration of the FIR, only adds to the impression that the criminal legal system is being weaponised against Faruqui.
This harassment of a person involved in the creative arts is something the courts have warned about before, that it is about more than just the liberty of…