The Secretary, Ministry Of ... vs Cricket Association Of Bengal & ... on 9 February, 1995 expression in the film by criticism of reservation policy or praising the colonial rule will affect the security of the State or sovereignty and integrity of India. There is no utterrance in the film threatening to overthrow the government by unlawful or unconstitutional means or for secession; nor is there any suggestion for impairing the integration of the country. Two Revising Committees have approved the film. The members thereof come from different walks of life with variegated experiences. They represent the cross-section of the community. They have judged the film in the light of the objectives of the Act and the guidelines provided for the purpose. There is nothing wrong or contrary to Constitution in approving the film for public exhibition. The producer or as a matter of fact, any other person has a right to draw the attention of the government and people that the existing method of reservation in educational institutions overlooks merits. Whether this view is right or wrong is another matter altogether and at any rate, the Court is not concerned with its correctness or usefulness to the people. The Court is only concerned whether such a view could be advocated in a film. To say that one should not be permitted to advocate that view goes against the first principle of our democracy. If the film is unobjectionable and cannot constitutionally be restricted under Article 19 [2], freedom of expression cannot be suppressed on account of threat of demonstration and processions or threats of violence. That would tantamount to negation of the rule of law and a surrender to blackmail and intimidation. It is the duty of the State to protect the freedom of expression since it is a liberty guaranteed against the State. The State cannot plead its inability to handle the hostile audience problem. Freedom of expression which is legitimate and constitutionally protected cannot be held to ransom by an intolerant group of people. The fundamental freedom under Article 19 [1] (a) can be reasonably restricted only for the purposes mentioned in Article 19 [2] and the restriction must be justified on the anvil of necessity and not the quicksand of convenience or expediency. Open criticism of government policies and operations is not a ground for restricting ex- pression. 18. The views taken by this Court in the aforesaid decisions have thereafter been repeated and reproduced in the subsequent decisions. 19. In Printers (Mysore) Ltd. & Anr v. Asst. Commercial Tax Officer & Ors. [(1994) 2 SCC 434], it is reiterated that the special treatment given to the newspapers has a philosophy and historical background. Freedom of press has been placed on a higher footing than other enterprises. Though freedom of press is not expressly guaranteed as a fundamental right, it is implicit in the freedom of speech and expression. Freedom of press has always been a cherished right in all democratic countries. Therefore, it has rightly been described as the Fourth Estate. The demo- cratic crede is of a State are judged today by the extent of freedom the press enjoyed in that State. This decision quotes from the. opinion of Douglas, J. in Terminiello v. Chicago [93 L.ed 1131: 337 US 1 (1949)] that "acceptance by Government of a dissident press is a measure of the maturity of the nation". 20. In Life Insurance Corporation of India v. Professor Manubhai D. Shah [(1992) 3 SCC 6371, the respondent-Ex- ecutive Trustee of the Consumer Education and Research Centre [CERC], Ahmedabad, after making research into the working of the Life Insurance Corporation [LIC], published a study paper portraying the discriminatory practice adopted by the LIC by charging unduly high premia from those taking out life insurance policies and thus denies access to insurance coverage to a vast majority of people who cannot afford to pay the high premium. A member of the Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/539407/ 11