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Bit of an odd article, man makes defamatory and false tweet, gets arrested for defamation, cries free speech? Making such a remark is equivalent of calling som
by amriksohata 5y ago
Bit of an odd article, man makes defamatory and false tweet, gets arrested for defamation, cries free speech?
Making such a remark is equivalent of calling someone here a nazi etc. Hardly newsworthy
- zozbot234 5y agoAdding to your point, people have been arrested for similarly offensive tweets in the U.K. too. Yet I have not seen much concern for free speech rights in the Grauniad. Why is India being singled out here? It looks like old colonial attitudes resurfacing again, where exotic colonial dependents are always stereotyped as "backward".
- leephillips 5y agoSame weird misspelling of the newspaper’s name in two different comments? How does that happen?
- nabusman 5y agoIt's a reference to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian#:~:text=Frequent%20typographical%20errors%20during%20the,the%20editors%20for%20self%2Dmockery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian#:~:text=Frequent%....
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> people have been arrested for similarly offensive tweets in the U.K. too A member of Parliament? For something as vague as “attempting to disturb ‘public tranquillity and peace’”? > old colonial attitudes When non-MP Brits were arrested for similar nonsense, was the public’s response whataboutism and appeals to colonial victimhood?
- amriksohata 5y ago
- tootie 5y agoThis actually has less details than the Guardian article. It just recites the government's argument. It doesn't seem that he incited violence but rather accused Modi of doing so.
- zozbot234 5y agoThe tweet baselessly accused Modi of worshiping the terrorist who killed Mohandas Gandhi. That would be highly offensive to many Indians, and easily construed as "fighting words" and inciting violence. We know this especially well because earlier fringe attempts to "rehabilitate" the perp have caused widespread offense in India; also as far as can be ascertained, Modi has not given any support whatsoever to these extremist fringe efforts. So any such claim is complete misinformation as well as trying to stoke offense.
- tootie 5y agoWithout knowing much of how Indian law is spelled out, this would be very clearly permitted language in every other liberal democracy. The narrow exceptions for "fighting words" need to be very explicit physical threats. Insults, even lies, are well within the realm of protected speech. Protection against causing offense is exactly what free speech rules are written for. Americans say absolutely awful things about our presidents whether or not they're true and none have ever been punished for expressing an opinion no matter how odious. Modi and the BJP may not literally worship an assassin, but they absolutely do support violent confrontation against Muslims. The kind of thing that is not only offensive and "fighting words" but a very real existential threat against a minority of Indian citizens. Yet they don't receive punishment because they have the protection of the government. It makes it seem very obvious that this prosecution is just government oppression. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/world/asia/india-hate-speech-muslims.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/world/asia/india-hate-spe...
- leephillips 5y ago“every other liberal democracy” In every liberal democracy. India is not one of those. They have elections, but those are necessary, not sufficient conditions for a meaningful state of democracy to exist.
- galoisscobi 5y agoFrom the article: > He was arrested on Thursday on accusations of attempting to disturb “public tranquillity and peace”, the police said. Disturbing public tranquility and peace != defamation
- leephillips 5y agoWhere is “here”? In the US, for example, defamation is a tort, not a criminal offense. And calling the president or any other public figure a “Nazi” would be totally safe.
- zozbot234 5y agoThe Grauniad is a U.K. newspaper. They're criticizing India for something that happens all the time in their own country. A total double standard.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- FpUser 5y agoInteresting. In regards to some countries this type of comparison is "whataboutism" and for others it is "total double standard"
- leephillips 5y agoThe article was a rather neutral reporting of facts. The facts should be embarrassing to India, but that’s not the newspaper’s fault. The Guardian often reports on similar issues occurring within the UK. Here are just two examples: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/14/transgender-tweet-police-acted-unlawfully https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/14/transgender-... https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/04/gender-critical-feminist-charged-over-allegedly-transphobic-tweets https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/04/gender-criti... So you are utterly mistaken.
- actuator 5y agoGuardian largely doesn't publish false news as such but is incredibly selective about the events it chooses to write about.
- leephillips 5y ago
- srvmshr 5y ago[parent] > Making such a remark is equivalent of calling someone here a nazi etc. Hardly newsworthy ---- [answer] > Indeed and better reasoning explained here over guardian [...] Are you trying to answer from alternate account @amreeksohata, to hustle traffic? Making a comment & replying it as an legitimate answer looks bit confusing & suspicious otherwise.
- morekozhambu 5y ago
- amriksohata 5y agoI should have probably edited the original one
- Luc 5y agoI'm surprised he doesn't have parliamentary immunity/privilege.
- yalogin 5y agoWhat? Telling a lie and calling names is not worthy of arrest in India? If so it's even more newsworthy :)