SILENCING WITHOUT PROOF: SECTION 295A, SECTION 95 CRPC, AND THE BARAGUR JUDGMENT

Abstract

The presumption of innocence, which is one of the fundamental maxims of criminal jurisprudence, enshrined in the Latin maxim actori incumbit probatio, finds itself challenged by the law that criminalizes the act of speech in India. This paper explores the judgment rendered in the case of Baragur Ramachandrappa & Ors. v. State of Karnataka & Ors. (2007) 5 SCC 1, where the Court upheld1 the State government's authority to seize an author's Kannada literary work through Sections 95 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, read with 295A of Indian Penal Code, 1860, respectively. Through the lens of a doc