Battlefronts

Freedom of speech is high on our minds in India today, with the
problem rooted in laws about three fronts: obscenity, defamation and
hate speech. While freedom of speech is an essential foundation of
democracy, it is closely connected with other dimensions of freedom.
Here are some fascinating episodes, in the liberal project of
getting to personal freedom.

United States, 1644

Faramerz
Dabholwala in the Guardian:

When the Massachusetts settler James Britton fell ill in the
winter of 1644, he became gripped by a "fearful horror of
conscience" that this was God's punishment on him for his past
sins. So he publicly confessed that once, after a night of heavy
drinking, he had tried (but failed) to have sex with a young
bride, Mary Latham. Though she now lived far away, in Plymouth
colony, the magistrates there were alerted. She was found,
arrested and brought back, across the icy landscape, to stand
trial in Boston. When, despite her denial that they had actually
had sex, she was convicted of adultery, she broke down, confessed
it was true, "proved very penitent, and had deep apprehension of
the foulness of her sin ... and was willing to die in satisfaction
to justice". On 21 March, a fortnight after her sentence, she was
taken to the public scaffold. Britton was executed alongside her;
he, too, "died very penitently". In the shadow of the gallows,
Latham addressed the assembled crowds, exhorting other young women
to be warned by her example, and again proclaiming her abhorrence
and penitence for her terrible crime against God and society. Then
she was hanged. She was 18 years old.

India, 2007

Vinod
K. Jose in Caravan magazine:

...on the morning the poll was published, an angry mob of about 50 people
attacked the Dinakaran office in Madurai, Azhagiri's home base. They
threw petrol bombs and set the newsroom on fire; two journalists and a
security guard were burned alive.

Pakistan, 2012

Declan
Walsh in the New York Times:

One morning last week, television viewers in Pakistan were treated
to a darkly comic sight: a posse of middle-class women roaming through
a public park in Karachi, on the hunt for dating couples engaged in
`immoral' behavior.

Panting breathlessly and trailed by a cameraman, the group of about
15 women chased after - sometimes at jogging pace - girls and boys
sitting quietly on benches overlooking the Arabian Sea or strolling
under the trees. The women peppered them with questions: What were
they doing? Did their parents know? Were they engaged?

Some couples reacted with alarm, and tried to scuttle away. A few gave
awkward answers. One couple claimed to be married. The show's host,
Maya Khan, 31, demanded to see proof. ``So where is your marriage
certificate'' she asked sternly.

India, 2012

Reportage in
the Hindustan
Times:

Over 50 Shiv Sena activists attacked the The Times of India building
at south Mumbai on Saturday and damaged plants and furniture at the
reception.

The men, who claimed to be supporters of former Sena MLA Anandrao
Adsul, were protesting against a news report that appeared in
Maharashtra Times, a Marathi daily. The report speculated that Adsul
was on his way to join the Nationalist Congress Party.
Adsul, who addressed the media later, has threatened to file a Rs
100-crore defamation suit in addition to a complaint with the State
Election Commission and Press Council of India. "Such baseless
allegations made without hearing my version won't be accepted," Adsul
said. The Sena man was unapologetic about the incident. "My supporters
went with a letter, but they were not allowed inside. So they reacted
in anger."

India, 2012

Johnson T. A. in the Indian Express:

While she was being beaten up, Suvarna insisted that she would only
marry Govindaraju and that it was she who wanted to meet him that day,
Govindaraju told the police in a statement last week when he briefly
emerged out of hiding. An enraged Davalana, according to the police
complaint, directed his relatives to `hang this girl who is insistent
on marrying a Madiga'.

Police investigators say they believe Suvarna probably died after
the thrashing from her father at her relative's house but her body was
dragged to Govindaraju's house and strung up on a rope to make it seem
like a suicide in the lover's home.