Kochi, July 11
A person cannot be persecuted by the state authorities merely on suspicion that he or she has embraced Maoist ideology, the Kerala High Court has said.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar made this observation while upholding a Single-Bench order granting Rs 1 lakh compensation to a man who was illegally detained by a special squad of the Kerala Police in 2014 on suspicion of being a Maoist.
Dismissing an appeal by the state government against the order to pay Rs 1 lakh to Shyam Balakrishnan, son of a former High Court Judge, the Bench said, “The preamble to our Constitution declares that we, the people of India, are guaranteed liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. The freedom of an individual to hold a particular political ideology is an aspect of his fundamental right to personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution in that he has the unfettered freedom to choose an ideology of his liking,” it said. — PTI
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/32mWc1m
via Today’s News Headlines
No comments: