Supreme Court of India<\/strong><\/a> has repeatedly emphasised that restrictions on rights should not destroy the core of those rights. Therefore, parliamentary rules should regulate speech without neutralising freedom of expression.<\/span><\/p>\nContemporary Concerns<\/b><\/h2>\n
In recent times, there are concerns that parliamentary speech freedom is being narrowed due to:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- Overuse of expunction powers<\/b>: Excessive use of expunction powers can sometimes weaken meaningful debate. If large parts of speeches are removed, political criticism may lose clarity.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Political weaponisation of procedural rules<\/b>: Procedural rules may sometimes be used to limit political criticism rather than only maintaining discipline.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Growing confrontation between ruling and opposition parties<\/b>: Parliamentary democracy functions best when both sides respect each other\u2019s right to speak.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Way Forward<\/b><\/h2>\n\n- Parliament should <\/span>ensure that freedom of speech of MPs is protected while maintaining decorum.<\/b><\/li>\n
- Expunction should be used carefully and only for clearly offensive words.<\/b> Strengthening the role of committees like the Committee of Privileges can help prevent misuse of parliamentary privileges.<\/span><\/li>\n
- Political parties should <\/span>promote mutual tolerance and constructive debate<\/b>. A strong opposition is necessary for democratic accountability.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Freedom of Speech in Parliament Related Judgements\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
The judiciary has played an important role in defining the scope of parliamentary speech.<\/span><\/p>\n\n- In Tej Kiran Jain v. N. Sanjiva Reddy (1970)<\/b>, the Supreme Court of India held that parliamentary immunity under Article 105(2) is very wide. The word \u201canything\u201d in the article was interpreted to give broad protection to MPs.<\/span><\/li>\n
- In P.V. Narasimha Rao v. State (1998)<\/b>, the Court ruled that MPs had immunity from prosecution related to voting inside Parliament.<\/span><\/li>\n
- In Raja Ram Pal v. Hon\u2019ble Speaker, Lok Sabha (2007),<\/b> the Court clarified that parliamentary privileges are not completely beyond judicial review if constitutional principles are violated.<\/span><\/li>\n
- In Kaushal Kishor v. State of Uttar Pradesh (2023)<\/b>, the Court observed that a minister\u2019s personal statement does not automatically represent the government\u2019s official position.<\/span><\/li>\n
- In Sita Soren v. Union of India (2024)<\/b>, the Court overruled the 1998 judgment regarding bribery immunity and held that accepting bribes for voting or speaking in Parliament is a criminal offence.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n
Freedom of speech inside Parliament is the foundation of India\u2019s democratic system. While MPs must have the liberty to express views without fear, this freedom should be exercised responsibly. Balanced regulation, institutional respect, and healthy debate are essential for the effective functioning of Parliament and democracy.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Freedom of Speech in Parliament under Article 105 ensures MPs\u2019 immunity for speech and voting, regulates expunction, and reflects key Supreme Court rulings and concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":89913,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[5715,5107,5108],"class_list":{"0":"post-89910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-studies","8":"tag-freedom-of-speech-in-parliament","9":"tag-indian-polity","10":"tag-indian-polity-notes","11":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89910"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89933,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89910\/revisions\/89933"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}