The Constitutional History of Article 19(1)(a)

Priscilla

Article 19(1)(a) under Part III of the Indian Constitution,1950 is one of fundamental importance which reads that, “All citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression.” This right is available only to citizens of India.

If we are to trace the history of free speech, ancient Greece is believed to be the first ever civilization recognizing this right and hence, is believed to have first originated from there. Also, even before the advent of any internationally recognised laws such as, “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 (UDHR)”, “The International Covenant on Civil and Political rights,1966 (ICCPR)“ ,“The European Convention on Human Rights, 1953 (ECHR)”etc which recognize free speech and expression, developed nations of the world had this right enshrined in their Constitutions and laws. Britain had the Bill of Rights, 1698, Sweden had the Freedom of Press Act,1766, France had the Declaration of Human and Civic Rights,1789 and the U.S had the right of free speech in the First Amendment of its Constitution, adopted in 1791. All these enactments still hold good and have served as great fore-runners and sources of inspiration and influence to the drafters of our Constitution.

Looking into the Indian Constitutional history of this Article, we can understand that this right of “free speech and expression” found its place in the Constitution of India Bill, 1895 which was the first Indian articulation of a constitutional vision.This gives us the notion that the “right of freedom of speech and expression” was already ingrained in the minds of the drafters and thus helps us to value its utmost worth. Article 19 ( which was termed as the Draft Article 13) was debated on 1st December 1948, 2nd December 1948, 16th October 1949 and 17th of October 1949 and was finally adopted on 2nd December 1949.

Undeniably, the right of freedom of speech and expression holds the highest place in our Constitution as it should be, as emphasized by Bhagwati J., in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India in the following words, “Democracy is based essentially on free debate and open discussion, for that is the only corrective of government action in a democratic set up. If democracy means government of the people by the people, it is obvious that every citizen must be entitled to participate in the democratic process and in order to enable him to intelligently exercise his rights of making a choice, free & general discussion of public matters is absolutely essential.”