“Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you are going to conceal faults by concealing evidence they ever existed. Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States (1953-1961)
The history of banning books and regulating their content as ‘speech’ after the promulgation of Constitution of India, 1950 has been one of disappointment and of constitutional confusion, if not chaos. Having adopted and incorporated one of the leaves of First Amendment to the US Constitution, the cherished rights under Article 19(1)(a) of the newly promulgated Constitution was a profound moment. The provision has been the subject matter of interpretation in more than hundreds of cases by the Supreme Court of India. However, the common thread which runs through these dictums is of ‘judicial convenience’ rather than principle. These precedents cause more confusion than an exercise of constitutional interpretation.
