Q.What is meant by freedom of expression? What in your view would be a reasonable restriction on this freedom? Give examples.

Freedom of expression is the freedom to speak, write, publish and create — including ideas others may find uncomfortable or false — without being silenced by force or law; it is treated as belonging to the core, protected area of non-interference. …

Freedom of expression is generally treated as belonging to the minimum, inviolable area of non-interference that even a democratic society should be extremely reluctant to restrict. J.S. Mill gave four strong reasons why expression should not be banned even when it appears false: no idea is ever wholly false, so banning it loses whatever truth it holds; truth itself only emerges through a genuine conflict of opposing views; that conflict remains valuable at all times, since unchallenged 'truths' risk hardening into unthinking cliché; and no society can be fully certain that today's accepted truth will not later be shown false, or that today's rejected idea will not later be vindicated. Real cases show how easily this freedom comes under pressure — protests forced Deepa Mehta's film about widows in Varanasi to be made elsewhere, and works like The Satanic Verses and Ramayana Retold were banned after objections from sections of society, even though banning is really only an easy short-term fix that risks becoming a long-term habit. …