Freedom Of Expression & Covid-19

By Radha Kuruwitabandara –JUNE 27, 2021

Radha Kuruwitabandara

The existing governing body has led the society to a point where they are convinced to believe that the only way out of the pandemic is to get infected and survive by a miracle, even at the lapse of more than one year from the initial outbreak. The preventive measures seem to be hardly effective. In the midst of a bundle of massive jokes provided by the government, people of our great nation are realizing a lot of realities. It is a fact that the pandemic is a global crisis but being countrymen of a small island who hardy learns lessons by our mistakes, we are at even deeper stake. While the pandemic hits us right at our throat, here we are struggling with ourselves for not having chosen a better option because the pandemic has taken away half the rights of the citizens and the other half has been thieved by the governing authority itself.

As a result of the ‘general public’ having to be obliged to the ongoing island wide travel restrictions, the only access-path to information in the outer world has become news and digital media. There is absolutely no alternative to both express thoughts or to access to information whatsoever. It is needless to say that media telecasts that operate on countless television channels have lost credibility despite their operation around the clock because of the nauseous behavior of reporting information showcasing favoritism. On the other side, even though digital media stands as an option, in Sri Lanka, only 50 percent of the population has access to proper digital information platforms.

While facts stand as such, on the 08th of June 2021, the Police Media Unit issued a Media Announcement on Circulation of Fake news, photographs, videos causing disunity, hate and obstructing the COVID 19 programme. This circular warns the public that the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the Computer Crimes Division of Sri Lanka Police will be conducting investigations by surfing the internet and capture violators to enforce the law and alerts the public to refrain from spreading, aiding or abetting spreading of news of such sort. This circular provides a list of offences under existing statutes and the arrests ought to be done at the violation of the circular allows the Police to act without a warrant issued by a Magistrate.

Providing access to accurate information was a right provided by the 19th amendment to the Constitution of the land.  The Right to Information act was its’ ultimate fruit. The government of any country has a duty to ensure that its’ subjects receive accurate information about the current situation of the land, be it a crisis or harmony. Therefore, on the outset, the aforementioned circular paints a flawless picture. The accessibility into many news sites are exclusively rendered to media officials with the belief and confidence that they will report the absolute truth and nothing else. In other words, the main digital and printed media is expected to be the channel through which the citizens see the actual incident. However, given the ethical and moral deportment of governing individuals and the political literacy of the countrymen, it is not as pleasing as it sounds. State owned media has been used as a veil to cover flaws of the governing authority, throughout the history irrespective of the government in power. This has weakened the confidence in people to rely on the facts they report. Even worsening the situation, privately owned media institutions also have a tendency to pick a particular political concept and report facts favorably. Among the many news sessions that air in one evening, consider listening to a few on a couple of TV channels from the two corners to end up with a bundle of contradicting information about a single incident. There is a clearly observed vent between an actual incident and the subsequent report of it. It is through this vent, the tittle-tattle takes wings. At the lack of credible information in the circulation, the public tends to seek for it in other means such as social media.

Social media in the present context mainly includes communication platforms through which virtual social gatherings are enabled. The cyber space allows content to be shared among its members. The police circular in question seems to be aiming to restrict mainly the Facebook considering the subsequent arrests pertaining to it.

The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka provides for the Freedom of Expression under Article 14(1)(a). This freedom includes the right of a person to express and propagate freely his ideas and opinions, discussion and free exchange of ideas. As Sir Ivo Jennings has once stated, “Without freedom of speech the appeal to reason which is the basis of democracy cannot be made”. This in fact, lays the fundamentals of a ‘Democratic’ government of free people and the purpose of such guarantee is to prevent public authorities from assuming a guardianship of the minds of the people through regulating the press, speech and religion. This freedom rests upon the assumption that the wildest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential for the welfare of the public, as was founded by the judges in the case of Associated Press vs. U.S. (1945) 326 U.S. 1, 20. Express Newspapers Ltd vs. Union of India A.I.R. (1958).

Even though the legal system have major diversities, judgments of the United States can be ideologically helpful in the Sri Lankan context since concepts such as fundamental rights of citizens are universal. In Thornhill vs. Alabama 310 U.S. 88, it has been noted that “the safeguarding of these rights to the ends that men may speak as they think on matters vital to them and that falsehood may be exposed through the process of education and discussion is essential to free government”. Therefore, it is important to study whether the restrictions imposed by the said circular are ethical to be imposed generally and also at a time of crisis such as the pandemic. People are confined to the limited space of their household and the socializing with the outer world is restricted. Humans by nature, crave for new information and specifically what is happening around. The greed for information has been facilitated by social media platforms lately at the absence of credible news. This is why the social media restriction does not appear to be justifiable in the aspect of access to information.

On the other hand, social media has become a popular platform on which people tend to express various emotions, be it anger, frustration, sadness or amusement. At a time in which man-to-man connections have almost left life, they are in need of a platform to express themselves. Regulatory measures must be in force but crowning the executory level arm of the executive to decide, conclude and punish individuals for utilizing their right to expression is very dangerous than the words could explain for many reasons. It is well understood that there exist certain legal restrictions to the exercise of this freedom. However, the context in which it is applied is indispensable. The offences included in the Police Circular dated 08th June 2021 refers to the following offences.

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