Freedom of expression certainly permits criticism of religious beliefs. It does not confer a fundamental right to abuse any religion or its founder. In a theological debate or a philosophical discussion one may legitimately criticise the tenets of a particular religion or a particular person who beleives that religion. For example, the occurrence of miracles. One may also doubt the factual basis of its claims and assert that they are historically inaccurate. But it is not permissible to condemn the founder of a religion or the prophets it venerates as immoral persons or frauds and charlatans. In such cases an inference of deliberate intention of outraging the religious feelings can be raised and which is punishable under Section 295-A of the Indian Penal Code. Whether we like it or not, in India religious feelings are easily ruffled by scurrilous attacks on religion and the founder and central figures of that religion.
RE:Freedom Of Expression
by Rahul Menon on Jun 11, 2007 01:27 PM Permalink
But freedom of expression doesn't mean vandalising cybercafes and infringing on the rights of the common man to make a living for himself and taking the law in their own hands. Mera Bharat Mahan
RE:RE:Freedom Of Expression
by Upadrasta PardhaSaradhi on Jun 11, 2007 01:36 PM Permalink
Were you asleep when Muslims in India were attacking Hindu shops protesting Danish cartoons?
Where were you when Muslims attacking a petrol pump and burning after Mecca masjid Bomb blast in Hyderabad? wt that Petrol Bunk fellows did? Wt the sho keepers arround charminar did?
WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPEING. what was the fault of the cybercafe fellow. why his shop was trashed??, WHO IS going to pay for his shop??. They are not going to gain votes by doing such kind of this, WE leave in a free and republic country. I doubt!!
RE:we are loosing our rights to speake
by Deepak on Jun 11, 2007 01:10 PM Permalink
Do they need votes to terririse the people ? They have the police on their side. Why does one need votes then ?
God save India. People do not have the right to exercidse their frredom of thought and expression. Atleast on the net if not on posters. Every thing is being pulled down on the pretext 'derogatory references'. If we go at this pace, stopping and ceasing everybody's thought process, we definitely canot progress. Grow up India, grow.....
RE:Pity my country
by Smash Hitz on Jun 11, 2007 01:09 PM Permalink
I agree with you ram.......in a "free" there is no freedom. God is the only hope to save this country.
RE:RE:Pity my country
by Dheeraj on Jun 11, 2007 01:11 PM Permalink
I can't agree more. As these everything is being curbed. Minister think they know what is good for us irrespective of whether they are doing the right things. If these SS think that if someone is wrong then are they right by breaking the cybercafes ?
RE:Will the police issue a notice to the shiv sena ...
by Deepak on Jun 11, 2007 12:59 PM Permalink
will the affected cyber cafe owners be compensated ? Nope.
Why, because they are paying for supporting the sena.
RE:Objectionable material on Orkut=Attack on Cyber cafes.
by prasoon chaudhary on Jun 11, 2007 01:04 PM Permalink
yes I can! A Shivsainik will come and report your message abuse. Coz that's the only way they know.
RE:Objectionable material on Orkut=Attack on Cyber cafes.
by mariappan on Jun 11, 2007 01:10 PM Permalink
ahaha what gentlemanly behaviour, where were you guys when hyderabad burned a few days ago bcos of a blast by one of their own, where were you when people rioted on the streets because saddam hussain was hung, were you guys sleeping when a UP minister put a bounty of 51 lakhs on the danish cartoonist. Looks like you people fight for freedom of speech selectively
RE:Objectionable material on Orkut=Attack on Cyber cafes.
by Upadrasta PardhaSaradhi on Jun 11, 2007 01:18 PM Permalink
absolutely. Most societies recognise that freedom of expression must necessarily clash with religious sensitivities. Mindful of this conflict, they create their own balance and draw their own boundaries to decide what is acceptable and what is not. For instance, the Islamic world regards all offence to religion as entirely unacceptable. In the West, such societies as Britain and Denmark reckon that freedom is so absolute that religious sensitivities are irrelevant. When cultures clash, as they did over the Danish cartoons, each society must decide what balance it prefers.
Our problem in India is that we have no standards, no barriers and no sense of what is acceptable and what is not. Instead, each time the issue erupts, we engage in the same meaningless, finger-pointing debates, and call each other names. No principles are ever discussed. No guidelines are drawn up. No balance is reached.
And after some time, when another such incident occurs, we have the same pointless debates all over again. In the process, we learn nothing and forget everything.
RE:Objectionable material on Orkut=Attack on Cyber cafes.
by Ketan More on Jun 11, 2007 12:59 PM Permalink
Exactly u r correct Syed Nobody knows y de attck ciber cafes....i think they hv habit to react like tat.
We have had it...we are thinking of becoming a "developed" country since i dont know when...we are still dreaming to be one by i dont know when...but with these kind of developments...i know we would never be...
this site is one of the best ideas one could come up with...i have met so many people whom i thought i would never ever re-establish any contact through this site... people are creating useless communities, which according to them is write, i m not justifying their deeds.. like this rediff discussion board is to convey your comment on a perticular news, but people are using it to spread hatred, dividing religion, caste, region etc etc...next time shiv sena would ask rediff to stop this discussion board...i presume that there are no other issue in the state to discuss...maharastra, i presume has sorted out issues like poverty, illiteracy...mumbai i think is not facing any infrastructural issues...oh! one grave mistake these shiv sainik doing is they have forgotten their main agenda to get rid of non-maharastrian out of mumbai...for how long will these guys cry for hopeless issues like valetine's day celebration etc and very convinently ignore grave issues in the state...
RE:block everything, give reservation, ruin this country as much as possible
by Upadrasta PardhaSaradhi on Jun 11, 2007 01:11 PM Permalink
you r absolutely right. Site is an amazing one. But Freedom of expression certainly has a limit.
If you dont like somebody, there is a way to express it, not abuse them, that too publicly.
Let%u2019s take the simplest example. Every liberal I know argued that MF Husain had the right to paint a naked Saraswati or a nude Bharat Mata. Yet, hardly any liberal of my acquaintance extended the same principle to the Danish cartoons. The liberal position was that Hindus should be tolerant of the manner in which their gods and goddesses were portrayed but that Muslims were right to complain about any visual representation of the Prophet Mohammed.
It%u2019s not necessary to be a fully paid-up member of the RSS to recognise that there is a huge logical contradiction here. The Muslim objections to the Danish cartoons were not based on the Muslims-are-terrorists subtext of the content. Muslims argued that even if the content had been laudatory, even if the Prophet had been portrayed as the saviour of the modern world, it would still have been deeply offensive to have seen a visual representation of the Prophet Mohammed.
So why is it okay to show Hindu goddesses in the nude and not okay to show the founder of Islam in any form at all, flattering or otherwise?
The Muslim contention is that Islam forbids its followers from visually representing the Prophet. This is fair enough and Muslims are entitled to regard this stipulation as binding.
RE:block everything, give reservation, ruin this country as much as possible
by Rahul Menon on Jun 11, 2007 01:19 PM Permalink
We don't have any stipulation with regard to shwoing our Gods and godesses in the nude. I have been to many temples and have come across nude and semi nude dieties in various positions so i guess no Hindu should take offence to that.
RE:block everything, give reservation, ruin this country as much as possible
by Upadrasta PardhaSaradhi on Jun 11, 2007 01:25 PM Permalink
Mr, Anything & everything in this world has its limits. 'Freedom' has its limits and 'tolerance' too.
Whatever you have seen in the Temples are one way of promoting the sex education and kamasuthra ina nicer way.
If you think you need to do everything and everywhere, Paint yuor mom and sister in nude and distibute to the Public world. You sucking idiot. It became a fashion to criticise Hindhus and their religion.
Here too we need a fair justice. Rediff banning without even reading that. there filters are very poor. they have to reach the orkut standards to get the crooks to act
RE:ban
by on Jun 11, 2007 12:56 PM Permalink
Do you think sleep is hampered by sex sites. I dont find that to be true. There life may go haywire but not sleep.
If something is resticted to the extreme the chances are high for exploitation of everythign. Better to free this world of unnecessary restrictions. Just put limits where absolutely necessary. then this world shall be one with less crimes and a safe place to live
RE:ban
by prasoon chaudhary on Jun 11, 2007 12:58 PM Permalink
Exactly..but hardly anyone would be interested in your suggestion..as that's how they get energy to protest next day..lol
