Freedom of speech beyond reasonable limits could have disastrous consequences: Bombay High Court

Freedom of speech and expression cannot be allowed to go beyond the limits of reasonableness or it could lead to disastrous consequences, observed the Bombay High Court recently [Hitachi Astemo Fie Pvt. Ltd. v. Nirajkumar Prabhakarrao Kadu]..Justice Milind Jadhav made the observation while dealing with case involving the termination of an employee by an automobile company for putting up provocative Facebook posts against the company..On December 12, the judge set aside a labour court order that had reversed the termination of the employee. In doing so, the High Court opined that freedom of speech cannot be exercised in an unreasonable manner. "Freedom of speech and expression cannot be allowed to be transgressed beyond reasonableness. If that is allowed, it could lead to disastrous consequences. In a given case, one cannot and should not wait for the consequences to occur. Such acts itself are required to be nipped in the bud. Otherwise, it would convey a wrong signal to the society at large," the High Court said..A labour court had earlier set aside the termination of the employee, following which employer-automobile company, Hitachi Astemo Fie challenged the labour court ruling before the High Court. .Hitachi claimed that the employee, Kadu had put two posts from his Facebook account during a wage settlement dispute. Hitachi claimed that these posts were defamatory, that they tarnished the company's reputation and instigated its employees against the company management. In 2018, an Enquiry Officer (EO) of the company held Kadu guilty of misconduct and his employment was terminated through an order dated May 2, 2018. Kadu challenged the termination order before the labour court in Pune which quashed the order on May 31, 2018. The labour court also held that the enquiry against Kadu by the EO was illegal and that the EO's findings were perverse. Hitachi challenged this order before the High Court in 2023. Kadu opposed the company's plea, arguing that no untoward or violent incident had taken place even though there had been provocative comments on the posts. .Justice Jadhav opined that it was no defence to say that no untoward incident took place after the provocative posts were uploaded. "Considering the fact that Hitachi employed thousands of workmen, such posts and the comments thereof when read by any disgruntled workman could have led to any disorderly act. When it was an admitted position that wage settlement talks were going on for several months, a much greater degree of restraint is called upon to be exercised by the office bearers of the recognized union who hold active parleys with the company," the Court observed. .The Court further found that the Facebook posts were provocative and clearly intended to incite hatred against the company as evident from comments on the post. .The Court added that such acts by office bearers of a workers' union could not be pardoned. "If the same office bearers of the recognized Union themselves do not practice restraint and have faith in the statutory provisions of law and commit such an act by posting posts which invoke hatred and are by itself provocatory, such acts cannot / should not be pardoned. A strong message needs to be sent out against such acts," Justice Jadhav emphasized. .Therefore, the Court allowed the company's plea and set aside the labour court's order. The labour court was directed to complete hearing certain pending issues in the matter within eight months' time. .Senior Advocate KS Bapat with advocate TR Yadav appeared for Hitachi.Advocate Nitin Kulkarni appeared for the terminated employee, Kadu..[Read order]