CHENNAI: The Madras High Court’s “wise” decision to broaden the case surrounding Madhorubhagan controversy to highlight the larger issue of freedom of expression has won fulsome praise from The New York Times, which published an editorial on the book row in its international issue that came out on Saturday.
Pointing out that there were several instances where offended groups acted as “cultural vigilantes by trying to silence authors with threats”, the editorial quoted the observation made by the first bench of the High Court, comprising Chief Justice S K Kaul and M M Sundresh, during the hearing of the case that the greater concern for the court was ‘extrajudicial groups wielding power to decide what is right and what is not right, and asking authors what to write and what not to write’.
“This is refreshing language from an Indian court on the issue of free speech,” commented the editorial.