arieo1s Tete ine in 10 reedom of speech is considered a pillar of the western democratic society and helps to ensure free discussion or criticism of views and policies that may be enforced of imposed by elected governments putting into danger the principle of election that brings them to power. Denial of such free dom usually defines the dic tatorial regimes, but the right of any citizen to criticize ina bid to correct some irregular: ities in government without fear of prosecution is re- garded as a hallmark of a democratic set-up. However, this right of free opinion is often abused by some media and press agents to serve some power lobbies, turning What needs — a democratic right into a tool questioning is. fos'swuid be guided ty not the right _ tional reasoning and not be os reduced to a game of fisty toopinion, cutis, forgetting that there are restrictions attached to but the way of orery right The restriction in doing it with this cases that of mutual re- spect for the beliefs or con- due respect Yictions of others, be they forthe individuals or communities, a as established in Article 18 of religion of any the Universal Declaration of Human, Ironically, the West ern modernity has replaced the religious sacredness with bipihwwenaperheraldovDetalsprin aspx? 152638baxid= 165012522 Detaiserint license to abuse? cartoonist who had carica- tured the prophet Muhamad, was among the speakers at the event, and apparently he was the intended target of the attack. ‘What needs questioning is, not the right to opinion, but the way of doing it with due respect for the religion of any people. Itisa blatant crossing of such boundaries that needs to be checked, if we do not wish to invite the wrath of the offended who cannot expect justice in a dominant power structure which abets the abuse under guise of the right of freedom of expres- sion. Terrorism is provoked by abuse of freedom, causing the loss of lives and putting many more at jeopardy. More discretion and restraint in publications or speeches would ensure public welfare. Freedom of speech is nota license to abuse, Self-control, or in its absence, an institu- tionalized censorship must not be ruled out in every ar- ticle (text, cartoon, graphic drawing) you intend to use to express yourself. The free- dom to debate ideas does not justify freedom to use derogatory expressions tar- geting ordinary individuals, particularly those who are often helpless as compared to those representing politi- cal or economic groups and institutions. That is precisely why Section 499 of IPC rules that defamation as punish- able crime implies a public imputation directiy or indi- rectly, in the estimation of others, which lowers the ‘moral or intellectual charac- ter of that person, or lowers the character of that person are expected to take cog: nizance of such unsolicited information and get influ- enced negatively about the main target of trolling. ‘Ayear ago was victim ofa Swindon-based Goan shippy. He used different IPs for sending his mails from ditfer- ent ports he visited, hoping perhaps to remain unde- tected. He copied his e-mails to dozens of prominent Goans in Goa and diaspora al- most week after week, His grievance was that | was a defender of Goa's liberation from colonial rule. Unfortu- nately for him, The UK cyber- crime police acted quickly on my complaint and the troller left me in peace. | wish the re- cent outiit of cyber-crime cell of Goa Police works equally well in protecting the victims of trolling among the internet users in Goa. Vigilance is also increas ingly needed to check the proliferating internet groups, Which can be very helpful when used responsibly, but not when they become plat- forms for gossip and defama- tion. Some such groups with specious names and pretend- ing to be serious and aca- demic get high-jacked by characters with their own personal agendas. Internet should help more freedom, but not more abuse. Even in closed groups, where non-members cannot defend themselves, they are often subjected to personal insults, This variant of defamation usually goes unchecked, particularly ifthe offender is the owner or moderator of a group. | am reminded ofthe Aesop's fable 12arieo1s | a secular one, and the reli- gious fundamentalism with a market fundamentalism, A violation of respect for peoples’ religious beliefs pro- voked the deadly Char Hebdo episode in Paris early this year, claiming the lives of some journalists and car- toonists involved in satirical publications in which they ridiculed the prophet Mo- hammed of the Islamic reli- gion. About a month later @ similar attack occurred in Copenhagen. It is believed that a controversial Swedish Detalisrint in respect ot his caste or of his calling, or lowers the credit ofthat person. The law lists ten exceptions, including one which concerns imputa- tions about an author of an article, book or performance, which are open to judgement of the public, but does justify ‘going beyond the purview of that publication or perform- ance. In our digital age and ba- nalization of e-mails, the freedom of expression per- mits some vicious characters to troll their selected targets with unsolicited mail con- taining defamatory contents, which they copy to dozens or more other e-mail users who of the scorpion and the frog, ‘when even a professor of a respectable college leaves his responsibilities of a peda- ‘gogue at the door of the class oom and gives in to his na- ture of a scorpion while in- teracting in internet groups. ‘A renowned English histo- rian of the Portuguese em- pire wrote once that overseas colonies served as places for outdoor relief. Today we have the internet groups and blogs as digital colonies where to relieve ourselves from life's frustrations? (Teoionio R de Souza - Founder-Director of the Xavier Contre of Historical Re- search, 1979-1994) bipshwwnenaperheraldovDetelsprin aspx? 152638baxid= 165012522 22