India, March 30 -- The Supreme Court Friday reiterated that the right to free speech is non-negotiable. The two-judge bench, while quashing an FIR against a Congress MP booked for tweeting a poem, said that police officials are "bound to honour and uphold freedom of speech and expression conferred on all citizens". Citing a procedural safeguard in BNSS, the new criminal procedure code, the court said the police must conduct a preliminary inquiry before registering an FIR in cases involving "spoken or written words".

The apex court's reiteration of the right to free speech should force people in authority to reflect on the prevalence of intolerance towards criticism, including when the medium is humour, satire and other forms of comedy. T...