The Supreme Court answered many questions on Right to Speech while hearing Kaushal Kishor vs the State of Uttar Pradesh case. The question addressed was “Whether additional restrictions on the right to free speech can be imposed on grounds not found in Article 19(2) by invoking other fundamental rights”. Many previous decisions given by the Supreme Court were mentioned and amongst then Sakal papers Ltd. and others vs the Union of India being the key judgment discussed.
The top Court stated that the grounds highlighted for restricting the right to free speech in Article 19(2) were exhaustive. The Court also determined that the right should be exercised appropriately so that it does not come in direct conflict with other citizens’ rights as they also have similar rights. On this, the official statement of the top court is “the guise of invoking other fundamental rights staking a competing claim against each other cannot be imposed on the exercise of the right conferred upon any individual by Article 19(2)”.