Three untoward incidents happened in a matter of 24-hrs which puts a question mark on the freedom of speech in our country and on the birth right of citizens. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Padmavati’ movie set was burnt down, Nahid Afrin who was the runner-up in Indian Idol Junior in 2015 was threatened if she performed near a mosque and stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra received death threats ever since he published his video which had some lighter moments on demonetization. Freedom of speech is an essence of democracy and the rights of the citizens to express freely must be respected by all. Else, we would turn into a dictator rule like they have in Pakistan which would be unhealthy for our democracy. Citizens too have some duty in a democracy where the integrity of the nation needs to be respected as well as rights of fellow citizens. But people should not take the law in their hands and we have the courts, the law and order machinery as well as various other forums to punish the guilty!
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
