New Delhi, March 29 -- The Supreme Court on Friday mandated that police officers should conduct a preliminary inquiry before registering a first information report (FIR) in cases involving "spoken or written words", establishing a robust legal precedent that will likely impact future cases involving free speech in India by introducing a critical layer of immunity.

A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan remained emphatic that police officials are "bound to honour and uphold freedom of speech and expression conferred on all citizens" and that direct registration of FIRs in cases involving speech, drama, satires, stand-up comedy acts, poems or artworks has the propensity of stifling the fundamental right. The ruling is a part of t...