For the past few months, the nation has been witnessing massive country-wide protests against the government — right from August 5, when Article 370 was abrogated, to the protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). Many citizens of India have been demanding that the CAA and the possibly upcoming exercise of NRC and NPR be scrapped. However, protests have also been accompanied by a clampdown by the authorities to quell any form of dissent. The state of Karnataka has also witnessed a number of cases where individuals have been charged with anti-government activities for voicing their opinion and using their freedom of expression. However, one voice that cut through the noise and confusion over rights vs patriotism was that of the Karnataka High Court — specifically that of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka.
From upholding a citizen’s right to protest, to condemning a Bar Association for boycotting people accused of sedition, Chief Justice Abhay Oka has delivered judgements that are crucial in today’s times. Here are four times that the Karnataka Chief Justice upheld the right of freedom of expression as absolute:
‘Protest a fundamental right'
When protests against the CAA reached the city of Bengaluru, around 200 people, including eminent historian Ramachandra Guha, were detained by the police for defying prohibitory orders under Section 144 and staging a protest at Town Hall. Bengaluru police had clamped down prohibitory orders for three days, which was then challenged in the court. A bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Hemant Chandanagoudar stated that the fundamental right to hold peaceful protests is the basic feature of democracy.
“It is the fundamental right, conferred on the citizens, to express a voice of dissent. It is irrelevant whether the dissent is right or wrong. When such a valuable fundamental right which is an essential part of democracy is said to be taken away by a prohibitory order issued under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, it is the duty of the Constitutional Court to test the legality and validity of such an order which prevents the citizens from protesting,” the court said.
“Can you ban each and every protest?”
Hearing a batch of petitions challenging the imposition of Section 144 in Bengaluru, a bench led by Justice Oka pulled up the state government, asking if the state intends to ban each and every protest and if the state can assume that every protest will become violent. The bench also asked whether authors or artists can stage protests if they disagree with a decision made by the government.
"Can state go under the assumption that every protest will disturb the peace? Are you going to ban each and every protest? How can you cancel permission of a previously granted order?” the court asked.
Pulling up Bar Associations for ‘boycott’ resolution
In February, Chief Justice Abhay Oka criticised the Hubballi Bar Association’s resolution barring its members from representing three Kashmiri students accused of sedition. The High Court also took a strict view of the heckling faced by advocates from Bengaluru when they approached the registration counter inside the court premises in Dharwad to file the bail applications for the students, who were charged with sedition after a video of them allegedly saying 'Pakistan Zindabad' went viral.
Criticising the Hubballi Bar Association, Oka described the actions of lawyers in Dharwad as ‘sheer militancy’, “Barring advocates from appearing for the accused gives a bad name for the judiciary. A lawyer not allowed to approach the filing counter to apply for bail should not happen in this state,“ Oka said in the Karnataka High Court. He was hearing a petition filed by advocate BT Venkatesh challenging the HubballiBar Association's resolution.
Following the rap from the High Court, the Hubballi Bar Association changed its resolution. The High Court has further directed the bar association to revoke its earlier resolution.
Recognising citizens’ right
In February, Chief Justice Abhay Oka questioned the Karnataka government and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) while hearing a case related to the demolition of migrant settlements in Bengaluru over fears that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants stayed there. "By looking at the face of a person, can one be identified as being a Bangladeshi national?” questioned Abhay Oka when the case was heard.
The Chief Justice further directed the Karnataka government to rehabilitate those who were rendered homeless in the demolition drive within a month. The state government was also directed to compensate residents of the settlements who lost their homes.
On January 19, migrant settlements in Bellandur were demolished by an excavator in the presence of Bengaluru police officials. However, following the incident, the police, state government and the BBMP attempted to distance themselves from the incident. All three parties made submissions in the Karnataka High Court stating that they had not ordered the demolition which had occurred on private land. But Chief Justice Abhay Oka was relentless in questioning the police and civic officials and asked in court whether “a mysterious force” had demolished huts in the settlements.
A citizen’s judge, before Karnataka HC too
Before he was transferred as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, Justice Oka was a part of the Bombay High Court for 16 years. His tenure in Mumbai was marked by landmark judgements similarly upholding the fundamental rights of the citizens — including issues of noise pollution, illegal hoardings, roads, unauthorised constructions, and the like. He was also known for holding the government accountable. In August 2016, the Maharashtra government had accused Justice Oka “harbouring serious bias” against it and filed an application asking Justice Oka to be transferred from hearing a case on the increasing menace of noise pollution in Mumbai. The application triggered a massive row and later the Maharashtra government had to tender an unconditional apology for making such allegations. Justice Abhay Oka was sworn in as the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court on May 10, 2019.
With inputs from Prajwal Bhat