Law minister slams ex SC judge for remarks on lack of freedom of expression

PTI, Sep 4, 2022, 12:13 PM IST

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New Delhi: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has hit out at former Supreme Court judge Justice B N Srikrishna for his remarks on the lack of freedom of expression, saying those who speak without restrictions to abuse a popularly elected prime minister are crying about freedom of expression.

Responding to a tweet that quoted a portion of an interview given by Justice Srikrishna (retd) to a national daily, Rijiju said ”Those people who speak all the time without any restrictions to abuse the popularly elected Prime Minister are crying about freedom of expression! They will never talk about emergency imposed by Congress party and never dare to criticise some Regional Party CMs.” The former top court judge had said that today things are ”very bad.”

”I must confess, if I were to stand in a public square and say I don’t like the face of the Prime Minister, somebody might raid me, arrest me, throw me in jail without giving me any reason. Now that is something that all of us oppose as citizens,” the former Supreme Court Judge had said.

In a series of tweets on Saturday, the law minister said he does not know whether a former judge of the Supreme Court has actually said this. ”If it’s true then the statement itself is demeaning the institution he has served,” the minister said without naming anyone.