The Paradoxes of Free Speech Challenges and Controversies in Contemporary India

PART I: THE EVOLUTION OF FREE SPEECH: LEGAL, LITERARY, AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES

Introduction

Pallavi Devi and Alankar Kaushik

1. Dancing on a Double-edged Sword: The Paradoxes and Challenges of Free Speech in a Post-truth World

Lawrence Liang

2. Constituent Assembly Debates on Freedom of Speech and Expression: A Historical Perspective

Soura Subha Ghosh

3. Courts, Literature, and Free Speech in India: Lessons from Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

Hakim Abbas

PART II: THE NEW FRONTIERS OF FREE SPEECH: MEDIA, ALGORITHMS, AND DIGITAL GOVERNANCE

4. An Epidemiology of Fake News and a Possible Cure

Sukumar Muralidharan

5. The Regulation of Over-the-Top (OTT) Platforms: Free Speech Concerns

Hina Illiyas

6. Free Speech, Hate Speech and the Double-Edged Sword of Algorithmic Regulations: The Indian Perspective

Namita Devi and Jayanta Krishna Sarmah

7. Algorithmic Dictatorship in the Era of AI: A Need to Strengthen Indian Legal Regime to Immune Freedom of Expression

Rituraj Bhowal and Kajal Kundalia

PART III: FREE SPEECH IN CRISIS: POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND GENDERED DIMENSIONS

8.     The Minority Judgement in ADM Jabalpur: Justice Khanna’s Fearless Speech.

Arvind Narrain

9. Is Legitimate Criticism Actually Legitimate? Navigating the Legal Landscape of Sedition and National Security in India

Souvik Roy and Akash Bag

10. Hate Speech in Indian Elections and the Role of Election Commission: A Study of Parliamentary Elections Since 2014

Ayan Guha

11. Unfree in the Digi-Verse: Women in the Online Public

Laxmi Murthy and Sarita Ramamoorthy

12. Silencing Justice in Digital Space: A Gendered Struggle to Reclaim Free Speech

Anviti Mishra and Pulak Chugh

13. Right to Free Speech in India Today: Dilemmas and Delusions

Udayon Misra

PART IV: THE FOURTH ESTATE AND FREE SPEECH: NAVIGATING CHALLENGES IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA

14.  Navigating the Paradoxes of Free Speech: Challenges for Journalists in Contemporary India. (An interview transcript by the editors)

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

Biography

Pallavi Devi serves as a Constitutional Law teacher at the Department of Law, Gauhati University, Assam. Her work explores the intersections of law, justice and societal structures fostering cross-cultural dialogues and promoting an inclusive understanding of constitutional principles and culture. Over the past five years, she has actively collaborated with leading legal and social science scholars, organizing two national level seminars in Assam: “Understanding the Dynamics and Interface of Freedom of Speech and Expression under the Constitution of India”, supported by ICSSR-NERC, MAKAIAS-Kolkata, Oil India Limited (OIL), and Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and “Violence Against Women: Issues and Challenges”, funded by ICSSR-NERC. Her contributions to legal education and advocacy were recognized with the prestigious Freedom Fighter Kunteswari Dutta Memorial State Award (2022), presented by the Women’s Cell of Cinnamara College, Jorhat, on International Women’s Day. In 2024, she was selected as a ‘Youth Delegate’ at the World Policy Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. This global platform enabled her to engage with world-class speakers, participate in dynamic policy dialogues, and contribute to workshops focused on fostering international cooperation and leadership development.

Alankar Kaushik, a faculty member at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at EFL University, Shillong Campus, has spent over a decade immersed in the fields of Communication and Social Change. His research passion lies in Participatory and Community Media, with a focus on amplifying the voices of marginalized groups through creative media tools. Between 2012 and 2019, he collaborated with UNICEF on transformative participatory media projects across Assam and Meghalaya, empowering economically disadvantaged children to share their stories and advocate for their rights. One of his notable initiatives, Children in Media Experiments (CHIME), introduced in Meghalaya, encouraged young voices to engage with participatory videos. His recent publication, a co-edited book ‘Narratives and New Voices from India: Cases of Community Development for Social Change’ (Springer, 2022), offers an in-depth look at community-driven development in India. Currently, he is authoring an upcoming book titled ‘Tuning into Northeast India’s Grassroots Community Radio’, slated for release by Springer in 2026, which explores the evolving role of community radio in connecting and empowering rural communities across Northeast India.