Freedom of Expression, Literature, Fact, and Fiction
Syed A. Sayeed
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.71106/AZAO6362
Publication: Volume 1 Issue 1
Abstract
On 5th of July, 2016, the Madras High Court delivered a significant judgment in a case relating to a petition filed by some persons and organisations against the Tamil author Perumal Murugan, demanding that Murugan’s Tamil novel, Madhorubagan, should be banned as it hurt the sentiments of the people of a particular village and had ‘portrayed the Kailasanathar temple in Tiruchencode and its women devotees “in bad light”’. Tiruchencode is a real village used as the setting for the novel which, among other things, depicts certain reproductive practices that were in effect among particular castes/communities some time ago. The presiding judges were the Hon’ble Mr. Sanjay Kishan Kaul, and the Honourable Mrs. Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana. The judgment they delivered was remarkable in that it not only took a decisive and enlightened stand on the specific issue of banning the novel in question, refusing to ban creative works for supposedly hurting sentiments, but more importantly, it articulated the court’s position with regard to the wider question of freedom of expression. Moreover, it did so at the level of general principles in a manner that provides a point of departure for meaningful debate.
Keywords: Literature, Fact, Fiction
Dr. Syed A. Sayeed (syedsayeed55@gmail.com) is a Professor of philosophy in the Department of Aesthetics and Philosophy at The English and Foreign Language University, Hyderabad, India