We cannot complain about long work hours when Prime Minister Narendra Modi works for 17 to 18 hours: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta

Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta said that there is no reason for him to complain about long working hours considering the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi works for 17 to 18 hours everyday. .Mehta also said that despite his long working hours, he does manage to spend time with his family. ."If our Prime Minister works 16 or 18 hours a day we have nothing to complain. I know this personally. However, I do manage time for family," he said. .Mehta's statement came in response to a question posed to him at a webinar on how he manages time and how different a government law officer's work is when compared to private practice. .The question and session was preceded by Mehta's speech on the topic "Demystifying the Freedom of Speech and Expression". The webinar 'Courtoom Legends' was organised by Debates & Discussions Society, Campus Law Centre, Delhi..Mehta further stated that those who "bring disrepute to the Supreme Court" are in numerical minority and should be ignored."We have amongst us those who rather than bringing Supreme Court's image as protector of human rights in the forefront, they bring disrepute to it. Best way is to ignore it. Only numerical minority group propagates otherwise. People of this country have immense faith in Supreme Court," he said. In this regard, Mehta also highlighted various landmark judgments passed by the Supreme Court over the years in furtherance of fundamental rights of citizens. The efforts by government during the early years to undermine the Supreme Court including attempt to supersede Justice Patanjali Sastri as Chief Justice of India and the impact of emergency years were also touched upon by the Solicitor General. .On the prospect of regulating hate speech, SG Mehta said that "if and when there are regulations concerning hate speech, it should not be to punish the tolerant and reward the intolerant.""One cannot decide based upon the low level of intolerance of those groups who are more vocal about their feelings being hurt and ignore those who respect others right to speech more," said SG..He also said that defining and demarcating free speech should be done keeping in mind national security and not subjective perceptions of individuals. ."Can reasonable restriction be dependent on level of tolerance of individuals or group of individuals. If we need to define and demarcate free and hate speech regulation has to be made by keeping in mind national security and cannot become tolerance specific," Mehta said..He further opined that internet has a tremendous potential to generate a lot of public opinion."It has a great effect on vulnerable minds. Dissemination of news and views can be carried out in seconds. Nobody can vouch for the authenticity. This is an anonymous medium. Jurists are still struggling on whether this right should be controlled so that mine and yours fundamental right as a citizen is not put to jeopardy. This is a worrying pattern," he said.