New Delhi: The idea of tolerance requires that disagreement over one’s beliefs or ideology cannot warrant their suppression, Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan has reportedly said, while also noting that dissenters must be protected from coercion by state and non-state actors.An intolerant society, he told an audience at the Smt Nirmala Devi Bam International Moot Court Competition organised by the Indore Institute of Law last week per a report by LiveLaw, can be neither progressive nor inclusive.“Disagreements with the beliefs and ideology of others are no reason for their suppression because tolerance recognises that there can be more than one view,” the legal news outlet quoted Justice Bhuyan as saying at the function. Tolerance in turn flows from the Preamble’s pledge to ensure fraternity, he noted.Intolerance, the judge said, arises from a “dogmatic conviction about the rightness and superiority of one’s own beliefs over others” and eclipses reason when it rises. “An intolerant society can never be a progressive, inclusive society,” he added, noting the importance of shielding dissenters from ‘coercive state and non-state actors, especially those led by fanatical, intolerant groups’.Freedom of speech and expression also ‘enable the marginalised and the excluded to participate in shaping constitutional culture and democratic discourse’, Justice Bhuyan said per LiveLaw. The real test of the constitutional principles of justice, liberty and equality is not how the privileged live their lives but the experiences of the marginalised, he continued.Justice Bhuyan’s remarks come against the backdrop of mounting concern over declining freedom of speech – including of the press – in India, most prominently under BJP-led governments. More recently this has involved a rash of social media takedowns targeting posts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the use of legal or legislative proceedings against comedians and other dissenters.He had also recently batted for free speech while adjudicating on a petition against the title of the movie Ghooskhor Pandat. The judge had said that freedom of expression “cannot be suppressed on account of threats of demonstration and processions or violence” as that would amount to a “surrender to blackmail and intimidation”.“We must practice tolerance to the views of others. Intolerance is as much dangerous to democracy as to the person himself,” Justice Bhuyan had said in February. He also emphasised while hearing the petition that state or non-state actors cannot “vilify and denigrate any community” on the basis of religion, caste or region through any medium.