New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice and sought response from the Central government on a petition by teachers seeking protection of academicians, lawyers, activists and researchers from raids wherein their devices containing important information are seized.
The bench comprising of Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Subhash Reddy ordered that at this stage response of Union Of India will be sufficient and later on it will consider if notice needs to be issued to other states or not.
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A group of 5 teachers namely, Ram Ramaswamy, Sujata Patel, M Madhava Prasad, Mukul Kesavan and Deepak Malgan have approached the court contending that seizing of devices can lead to loss or tampering with the data which the academicians might have collected after a lifetime of work.
The plea stated that "A lifetime's work is life as much as a livelihood."
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"Academic freedom is part of the right to freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a) and also of the right to practice a profession or occupation under Article 19(1)(g). The work of an author or an academic may be a work in progress to be protected from premature exposure, it may contain sensitive data concerning others, and may store years of research," the plea said.
Citing reports of the United Nations, the teachers argue that there is growing intolerance of "independent thought" across the world including India. Counsel appearing for the petitioners relied upon the guidelines in other parts of the world dealing with the subject matter.
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"The office of the learned Solicitor General be served with the copy of the petition," ordered the apex court.
