and protection to all other liberties. It has been truly said that it is the mother of all liberties. Freedom of speech plays a crucial role in the formation of public opinion on social, political and economic matters. It has been described as a “basic human right”, “a natural right” and the like. With the development of law in India, the right to freedom of speech and expression has taken within its ambit the right to receive information as well as the right of press. In Lingens v. Austria, Application No. 9815/82, 8ECHR 407, 8 July 1986 before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the applicant journalist was fined for criminal defamation by the Chancellor of Austria for publishing an article criticising his regime. While holding that the institution of an action of criminal libel violated the freedom of expression, the ECHR also observed (at para 44) that: The penalty imposed on the author … amounted to a kind of censure, which would be likely to discourage him from making criticisms of that kind again in future. In the context of political debate such a sentence would be likely to deter journalists from contributing to public discussion of issues affecting the life of the community. By the same token, a sanction such as this is liable to hamper the press in performing its task as purveyor of information and public watchdog. In New York Times v Sullivan 376 U.S 254 (1964) Brennan, J. observed that: ….erroneous statement is inevitable in free debate, and that it must be protected if the freedoms of expression are to have the “breathing space” that they need …. to survive 39