{"id":32112,"date":"2018-10-29T12:40:05","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T07:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=32112"},"modified":"2018-10-29T12:40:05","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T07:10:05","slug":"not-by-diktat-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/not-by-diktat-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Not by diktat alone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/must-read-news-articles-january-11-2018\/v\"><strong>Not by diktat alone<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Supreme Court does right to make playing of the national anthem before a film optional<\/p>\n<p><strong>Removed Coercive element<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By making it\u00a0optional\u00a0for cinema halls to play the national anthem before every show, the Supreme Court has at last removed the coercive element it had unfortunately introduced by an interim order in November 2016<\/p>\n<p><strong>Over-reach<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Laying down a judicial rule that the anthem must be played on certain occasions in specific places, in the absence of any statutory provision to this effect, was unnecessary and opened the court to charges of over-reach<\/p>\n<p><strong>Inter-ministerial committee to be set up<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>With the\u00a0Centre saying this directive could be placed on hold, and that it would set up an inter-ministerial committee to recommend regulations for the presentation of the national anthem, the court has said it is not mandatory to play it in cinema halls<\/li>\n<li>The panel will also suggest changes in the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, or in the Orders relating to the anthem issued from time to time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u2018No need to wear patriotism on our sleeves\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, one of the three judges on the Bench, had at an earlier hearing doubted the wisdom of asking patrons of cinema to visibly demonstrate their patriotism each time they entered a theatre to watch a film, remarking that there was no need for an Indian to \u201cwear his patriotism on his sleeve\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018At what point would this stop then?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He had asked at what point would such \u201cmoral policing\u201d stop if it were to be prescribed that some kinds of apparel should not be worn at the movies as they could amount to showing disrespect to the national anthem<\/p>\n<p><strong>Effect of the court\u2019s order: People had begun looking for signs of disrespect<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The court\u2019s order also had some unintended, but not unforeseen, consequences<\/p>\n<p>The audience began looking for signs of \u2018disrespect\u2019 and there were reports of vigilantism, with people beaten up or harangued for not standing up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why single out cinema halls?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Even those who contend that \u201cconstitutional patriotism\u201d and the demonstration of respect for the national anthem require the framing of such mandatory measures cannot explain why\u00a0cinema\u00a0houses should be singled out or why such rules shouldn\u2019t apply to other halls or enclosures where meetings and performances take place.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Not disrespecting the symbols<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is not to suggest that symbols of national honour are undeserving of respect. Neither is it to question the idea that citizens must show due respect whenever the anthem is played or the flag is displayed<\/p>\n<p><strong>But<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But as the Bench has pointed out, \u201cthe prescription of the place or occasion has to be made by the executive keeping in view the concept of fundamental duties provided under the Constitution and the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>No need for judicial direction or special emphasis in a mature democracy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In a mature democracy, there is really no need for any special emphasis, much less any judicial direction, on the occasion and manner in which citizens ought to display and demonstrate their patriotism. If rules are needed for the purpose, it is for Parliament to prescribe them by law<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As subscribers to common democratic ideals, citizens should be presumed to have a natural respect for symbols of national honour, and should not have to be made unwilling participants in a coercive project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Not by diktat alone Context Supreme Court does right to make playing of the national anthem before a film optional Removed Coercive element By making it\u00a0optional\u00a0for cinema halls to play the national anthem before every show, the Supreme Court has at last removed the coercive element it had unfortunately introduced by an interim order in&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/not-by-diktat-alone\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Not by diktat alone<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704803100},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}