New Delhi: A Supreme Court constitution bench has said that the government cannot be made vicariously responsible for the utterances of ministers and lawmakers and that restrictions outside of Article 19(2) cannot be imposed on their right to free speech.The bench that pronounced this judgment is the same as the one that upheld the Union government’s 2016 currency demonetisation move a day ago. Just like in the demonetisation judgment, this time too, Justice B.V. Nagarathna dissented. Judges who had the majority opinion were Justices S. Abdul Nazeer, B.R. Gavai, A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian.According to LiveLaw, the bench noted that the grounds mentioned under Article 19(2) of the constitution are exhaustive when it comes to restricting free speech. It also said that a statement made by a minister cannot be attributed vicariously to that of the government under the collective responsibility principle.Article 19(2) allows reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by Article 19(1) – which gives the right to freedom of speech and expression – in the “interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.”While Justice Nagarathna agreed with the majority view, she said that in case a minister makes “disparaging statements in his official capacity” then such statements should be vicariously attributed to the government. In case they are stray remarks, they can be treated as disconnected with the government’s stand and as personal comments, Justice Nagarathna said.Even though it was a “no brainer” that the government cannot be held responsible for the statements of ministers and lawmakers, indiscriminate statements hurt ordinary citizens, including women, she said, according to The Hindu.LiveLaw reports that Justice Nagarathna also expressed concern over the “rising cases of hate speeches” in the country.The apex court had earlier heard a petition by survivors of a 2016 gang-rape in Bulandshahar who had moved against a remark by Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, who had called it a “political conspiracy and nothing else.” The survivors were a woman and her minor daughter.The court had earlier directed Khan to issue an unconditional apology. It also referred the “serious concerns” on the case to a constitution bench in 2017.The Hindu has reported that Justice Nagarathna, during the hearings of the case, had said there was an unwritten rule of self-restraint for public functionaries to not “blabber” things which were “very disparaging or insulting” to fellow citizens.