ABSTRACT
In June 1951, the Constituent Assembly, now functioning as a unicameral, provisional Parliament for India, amended Article 19(2) to include three new enumerated restrictions to the right to free speech, namely, ‘public order’, ‘friendly relations with foreign states’, and ‘incitement to an offence’. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the Constitution (First Amendment) Bill (Bill No. 48 of 1951) on 12 May 1951, because certain judgments of the Supreme Court of India and the Punjab, Patna and Madras High Courts made it difficult for the government to curb hate speech or speech which promoted enmity between different groups (including writings in the press), and which the government believed was responsible for the continuing communal violence between Hindus and Muslims.
