HAROON FAROOQ vs FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN S — 2024 PLD 637 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE

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HAROON FAROOQ VS FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN S. 124a---Constitution of Pakistan, arts. 19 & 19a---Sedition---Provision of S. 124a, P.P.C., vires of---Fundamental rights---Freedom of speech---Good governance---Doctrine of trust---applicability---Petitioner assailed offence of sedition provided in S. 124a, P.P.C., as ultra vires the Constitution---Validity---Constitutional democracy enshrines fundamental rights which are conferred upon people and the most cherished of those rights is the right to freedom of speech and expression---There cannot be abridgement of speech unless it falls within the strict confines of exceptions to art. 19 of the Constitution---Doctrine of trust and role of Government as a trustee, the structure of constitutional democracy and the new branch of IPDs (Institutions for Protecting Constitutional Democracy) conjointly bolster greater need for free speech---This is of the essence of rule of law and hews more closely to constitutionalism---Provision of S. 124a, P.P.C., is in significant tension with Constitutionalism and constitutional democracy---Freedom of speech cannot be defined as freedom to say what is welcome to an authority, which is precisely what S. 124a, P.P.C., seeks to achieve---Power to restrict free speech and freedom of press is circumscribed and hedged in by the fields of legislation specifically mentioned in art. 19 of the Constitution---any law which seeks to suppress freedom of speech and press and does not fall strictly within one of the exceptions in art. 19 of the Constitution, falls afoul of it and is ultra vires to that extent---High Court in exercise of constitutional jurisdiction declared provision of S. 124a, P.P.C., unconstitutional as it offended fundamental rights enshrined in arts. 19 & 19a of the Constitution---High Court further declared that the provision of S. 124a of P.P.C. void as whole, as it was inconsistent with and in derogation of fundamental rights---Constitutional petition was allowed, in circumstances.

HAROON FAROOQ vs FEDERATION OF PAKISTAN S — 2024 PLD 637 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE

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