Sakal Newspaper v Union of India

Table of Content

Statement of purpose

Question of law

Facts of the Case

Scope of Problem

Objective of the Paper

Research Questions

Literature Review

Judgment of Sakal Newspaper v Union of India

Suggestion

Bibliography

SAKAL NEWSPAPER V. UNION OF INDIA

Statement of purpose

The purpose of the paper is to identify that, does actually the Newspaper Act,1956 is infringing the rights of Petitioner or not?

Question of law/ Research Question

1. To what extent the Newspapers (Price and Page) Act 1956, has infringed the right of speech and expression as given under Article 19 (1) (a)?
2. What all ambits does freedom of speech and expression include?

Scope of Problem

Scope of problem is limited under Article 19 of Constitution of India only and this paper mainly focuses about the Right of press which was infringed in the present case by Government of India.

Objective ofthe Paper

1. ToAnalyzethe concept of Speech and Expression
2. To interpret the provisions of the Newspaper Act,1956
3. To evaluate theRole of press under circulation and publication

Research Questions

Q.l.To what extent the Newspapers (Price and Page) Act 1956, has infringed the right of speech and expression as given under Article 19 (1) (a)?

What does the Newspaper Act (Price and Page) 1956 says..

Definition under section 2-

(a) "daily newspaper" means a newspaper which is published on not less than six days in a week, and includes any supplement or special edition of such newspaper;
(b) "newspaper" means any printed periodical work containing public news or comments on public news appearing at intervals of not more than a week.

It provides under section 3, for the regulation of the prices charged for newspapers in relation to their pages and of matters connected therewith for the purpose of preventing unfair competition among newspapers so that newspapers may have fuller opportunities of freedom of expression.

Article 19(1)(a) *of Indian Constitution says that all citizens have the right to freedom of speech and expression. Freedom of Speech and expression means the right to express one's own convictions and opinions freely by words of mouth, writing, printing, pictures or any other mode. It thus includes the expression of one's idea through any communicable medium or visible representation, this expression denotes publication and thus the freedom of press is included in this category. Free propagation of ideas is the necessary objective and this may be done on the platform or through the press. This propagation of ideas is secured by freedom of circulation. The freedom of speech and expression includes liberty to propagate not one's views only, it also includes the right to propagate or publish the views of other people; otherwise this freedom would not include the freedom of press. In any democratic country freedom of speech and expression is the mother of liberty, in modern times the safeguard of freedom of speech and expression is essence of society.¹

Now, if we discuss right to freedom of speech and expression of any newspaper then the Constitution of India nowhere mentioned the word “ Press” but provides the right of freedom of speech and expression under the Article 19 (1) (a)². same like any citizen of India as it is implied from the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a)³ of the Constitution of India. iArticle 19(1)(a)⁴ says that all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression.

How this act infringes the right of speech and expression as given under Article 19 (1) (a)?

Firstly, the act restricts to either reduce the number of pages or drop the price of newspaper but in both the cases the right to freedom of speech and expression is curtailed as the reader base of the sakal newspaper will be automatically collapsed and the voice of the newspapers reach will also be reduced and will be favored in other well established Marathi newspapers of that time like Loksatta, Maharashtra times, Saamna etc, to excel as the had larger reader base and profit from advertisement, and thus curtails the right to freedom of speech and expression of the sakal newspaper, even thepoint advertising which is important for the public at largewhich has a right to receive the "Commercial speech". Thesame was asserted in Hamdard Dawakhana (WAKF) LalKuan, Delhi and Another v Union of India⁵, that an advertisement is no doubt a form of speech but its true character is reflected by the. Freedom of speech would amount to nothing if it were not possible to propagate the ideas. Thus, the freedom of publication is also covered under freedom of speech. This right is not only about communicating your ideas to others but also about being able to publish and propagate other people's views as well. Thus, freedom of speech and expression is linked to the people's right to know. Freedom of speech and expression is a broad term and encompasses several things Freedom of speech is guaranteed not only by the constitution or statutes of various states but also by various international conventions like Universal Declaration of Human Rights, European Convention on Human Rights and fundamental freedoms, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights etc. These declarations expressly talk about protection of freedom of speech and expression.

Right to know is other facet of freedom of speech, which is Constitutional right. In State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain ⁶ it was observed that, “The people of this country have a right to know every public act by their public functionaries. The right to know is derived from the concept of freedom of speech.”. Through advertisements, not only is the right to know is assured but it is directly proportional to the advertisers freedom of speech and expression. Advertisements maintain competition in the market and help in educating the public.

In Reliance Petrochemicals Ltd v. Indian Express⁷ it has been observed that advertisement is a form of communication for marketing and is used to encourage or persuade audience. It is nonetheless dissemination of information regarding the product advertised and the public at large is benefitted by the information made available through the advertisement. In a democratic economy free flow of commercial information is indispensable. There cannot be honest and economical marketing by the public at large without being educated by the information disseminated through advertisements.

It is necessary to maintain and preserve freedom of speech and expression in a democracy, so also it is necessary to place some restrictions on this freedom for the maintenance of social order, because no freedom can be absolute or completely unrestricted. Accordingly, under Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India, the State may make a law imposing “reasonable restrictions” on the exercise of the right to freedom of speech and expression “in the interest of” the public on the following grounds:

1. Security of State
2. Friendly relations with foreign states
3. Public order
4. Decency or Morality
5. Contempt of Court
6. Defamation
7. Incitement to an offence
8. Sedition

Keeping this view in mind Venkataramiah, J. of the Supreme Court of India in Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) (P) Ltd. v. Union of India⁸ it was illustrated by the Supreme Court that freedom of press is essential for proper functioning of the democratic process, this explains the constitutional viewpoint of the freedom of press in India.

Q.2 What all ambits does freedom of speech and expression include?

It includes mainly two ambits for our present Case i.e Right to Press and Right to circulation But first its better to find out that what Exactly Newspaper Act is

Newspaper Act says-

The newspaper Act,1956 was designed to put some restrictions on pages of newspaper published by newspapers . The central government is of opinion that for the purpose of preventing unfair competition among newspapers so that newspapers generally and in particular, newspapers with smaller resources and those published in Indian languages may have fuller opportunities of freedom of expression, it is necessary or expedient so to do, the Central Government may, from time to time, by notification in the Official Gazette, make an order providing for the regulation of the prices charged for newspapers in relation to their maximum or minimum number of pages, sizes or areas and for the space to be allotted for advertising matter in relation to other matters therein.⁹ The government are under Newspaper Act , 1956 is of view that all some famous newspapers are taking there monopolies in the market and other newspapers that emerging have no scope to grow , if a single newspaper is providing all information and even charging less from there customers which is less than the cost production , the reason behind is that , they are getting payed by advertisements which they are printing in there newspaper . So they are earning huge money from advertisement page in their newspaper that they are charging less than the production cost of there newspaper from consumers . So under this Act ,central government only wants that, the newspaper pages should be limited i.e. daily newspapers should be publish for 6 days in a week¹⁰ which might include sometimes the special edition and they should charge the price of newspaper according to the pages it contains and if there is more pages and the price of newspaper is also low in that case either they have to increase there price or they will be punished with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees and on any second or subsequent conviction, with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees.

[...]

¹ Superanote-1
(1) All citizens shall have the right
(a) to freedom of speech and expression;
(b) to assemble peaceably and without arms;
(c) to form associations or unions;
(d) to move freely throughout the territory of India;
(e) to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India; and
(f) omitted
(g) to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business

² Superanote-1

³ Superanote-1

⁴ Superanote-1

⁵ HamdardDawakhana (WAKF) LalKuan, Delhi and Another v Union of India,SCR 1960 (2) 671

⁶ State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain 1975 AIR 865, 1975 SCR (3) 333

⁷ Reliance Petrochemicals Ltd v. Indian Express 1989 AIR 190, 1988 SCR Supl. (3) 212

⁸ Indian Express Newspapers vs Union Of India & Ors. on 6 December, 1986 AIR 515, 1985 SCR (2) 287

⁹ Section 3 Power to regulate prices and pages of newspaper, etc of THE NEWSPAPER (PRICE AND PAGE ACT,1956Act No.45 of 1956

¹⁰ Section 2 Definitions of THE NEWSPAPER (PRICE AND PAGE ACT,1956Act No.45 of 1956