What breaches 'law and order'� would not necessarily affect society or a particular community as a whole.  SAURAV DATTA revisits what courts have said about ‘reasonable restrictions.'

While Rushdie's shadow was cast over the Jaipur Literary Festival, other writers grappled with questions of censorship, dissent and freedom of expression.  SAMIK DASGUPTA has this report.

If privileges of our elected representatives are not codified, they can be misused,  undermining fundamental rights to life, liberty and expression, says RAKESH SHUKLA

In the recent past, a number of legal restraints on free speech have been initiated against journalists and the media in India, including charges of sedition, defamation, contempt of court, official secrets and hate speech,  says a report from SUKUMAR MURALIDHARAN. An excerpt from the section on defamation.

There was stiff opposition from within the Maharashtra cabinet that journalists should not be accorded any ‘special’ status and that malpractices of journalists must also be included in any proposed legislation.  GEETA SESHU reports on the state government’s draft legislation to protect journalists. Pix courtesy: NDTV

The Indian government’s clarification on the curbs on intermediaries seeks to reassure critics of the IT rules,  But will this suffice, asks GEETA SESHU

The new rules under the IT Amendment Act of 2008 actually authorize the government to access passwords and credit card information. Corporates have to hand them over, if the government asks for them.  A FREE SPEECH HUB report

Fair dealing clauses, technology, electronic copying, piracy...  on the occasion of World Copyright Day today, SARIM NAVED discusses the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act.

The law of criminal defamation has several ramifications, affecting the right to privacy and contempt too  and can be misused by the high and mighty to curb criticism, says RAKESH SHUKLA

The directive of a Delhi metropolitan magistrate to police to file an FIR charging sedition against the writer and the Kashmiri separatist leader,  exposes our law-enforcers intolerance for dissent, says RAKESH SHUKLA