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Showing contexts for: SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY in Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan vs Union Of India on 23 July, 2018Matching Fragments
59) We may reproduce the following discussion from the judgment of this Court in Subramanian Swamy v. Union of India, Ministry of Law & Ors.11:
“Balancing of fundamental rights 11 (2016) 7 SCC 221
136. To appreciate what we have posed hereinabove, it is necessary to dwell upon balancing the fundamental rights.
It has been argued by the learned counsel for the petitioners that the right conferred under Article 19(1)(a) has to be kept at a different pedestal than the individual reputation which has been recognised as an aspect of Article 21 of the Constitution. In fact the submission is that right to freedom of speech and expression which includes freedom of press should be given higher status and the individual's right to have his/her reputation should yield to the said right. In this regard a passage from Sakal Papers (P) Ltd. has been commended to us. It says: (AIR pp. 313- 14, para 36) “36. … Freedom of speech can be restricted only in the interests of the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign State, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence. It cannot, like the freedom to carry on business, be curtailed in the interest of the general public. If a law directly affecting it is challenged, it is no answer that the restrictions enacted by it are justifiable under clauses (3) to (6). For, the scheme of Article 19 is to enumerate different freedoms separately and then to specify the extent of restrictions to which they may be subjected and the objects for securing which this could be done. A citizen is entitled to enjoy each and every one of the freedoms together and clause (1) does not prefer one freedom to another. That is the plain meaning of this clause. It follows from this that the State cannot make a law which directly restricts one freedom even for securing the better enjoyment of another freedom.” (emphasis supplied)