A Minister’s statement traceable to any affairs cannot be attributed vicariously by the Govt.”, says the Supreme Court

While hearing the case, Kaushal Kishor vs the State of Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court held that “A statement made by a minister even if traceable to any affairs of the state or for protecting the Government, cannot be attributed vicariously to the Government by invoking the principle of collective responsibility”. 

This case was related to 2016 rape incident in which Azam Khan who is the Samajwadi Party leader and former Minister of UP stated that incident as “political conspiracy and nothing else”. A writ petition was filed by the survivors before the Supreme Court against Azam Khan seeking an unconditional apology. It has been analyzed that various concerns were raised regarding state obligation, freedom of speech and expression, during the investigation.

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