PLEADINGS
1. Whether the ban on bluebird violated the freedom of expression 1
under the constitution of
Westeros:
It is humbly submitted before the Hon’ble bench that the ban on bluebird is unconstitutional
since it violates the freedom of speech and expression under article 39 of the constitution. And
such ban is not followed the principle of “Proportionality and Necessity” thus not permissible.2
Therefore, the right to freedom of expression is protected by several international human rights
instruments that bind states, and Westeros is one of the member states, particularly Article 19 of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 19 of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). As a result, Westeros is bound to respect and
guarantees the right to freedom of expression as held in Article 19 of the ICCPR3
1.1 The Ban on Bluebird is Unconstitutional and doesn’t fall within the ambit of Reasonable
restrictions:
Social media is seen a key platform for freedom of expression. Anyone with access to
internet can create an account which allows them to express their own opinion on daily basis
through tweets, status, updates, and photograph.4 The scope of freedom of expression in article
39(2) of constitution has been expanded to include the receive and disseminate information
which includes print media, audio, television, broadcast and electronic media.5 Most of the social
media companies are not bound to provide information of their clients to any person or
organization as per their terms and policy. However, they accept requests from governments to
disclose the identity of their clients in cases of criminal activities.6
According to the Constitution of Westeros, Article 39(1) guarantees the freedom of thought and
conscience, article 39(2) (a) protects the freedom of speech and expression of every citizen,
while freedom of the press is assured under article 39(2) (b). But in terms of each enjoyment of
each right article 39(2) has envisaged reminded seven to eight reasonable restrictions subject to
the law for the interests of state security, friendly relations with foreign states, public order,
decency or morality, contempt of court, defamation and incitement to an offense.
To determine whether a restriction is reasonable or not Courts follows some principles depending
on the facts and circumstances of a given case and a reasonable balance must be struck between
1
2 Virendra Ojha v State of Uttar Pradesh AIR 2003 All 102.
3 ICCPR https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/ccpr.pdf (last accessed 20 January 2020)
4 Kietzmann, Jan H.; Hermkens, Kristopher (2011). "Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional
building blocks of social media"
5 Constitutional Law of Bangladesh By Mahmudul Islam
6https://transparency.twitter.com/ , https://transparency.fb.com/data/,
