They shut her up. That was their most valiant act, their only claim to fame, in recent times.

They are ministers of the mighty government of India, a cricketing great, a Bollywood star, an Olympic champ, and a whole army of rabid trolls. Her is Gurmehar Kaur, a 20-year-old student of English literature at New Delhis Lady Shri Ram College for Womenher father being a martyred soldier is irrelevant to the discourse.

Over the past few days, Kaur and her placards had left Indians breathlessly debating freedom of expression, patriotism, peace with Pakistan, and sexual violence against women. Yet, all she did was to post a protest message on Facebook: I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me. #StudentsAgainstABVP.

ABVP, or the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, is the student wing of Indias ruling Hindutva outfit, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Over the past few days, this organisation has been involved in an ugly battle with political opponents in Delhi University, to which Kaurs college is affiliated.

The ABVP, BJP, and their supporters were furious at #StudentsAgainstABVPs success. And then, an old video-campaign featuring Kaur re-surfaced, in which one of her placards says: Pakistan didnt kill my father, war did.

The nationalists simply went ape-shit after losing their long-held rhetorical fetish, the dead soldier, to his daughter.

Modis junior home minister Kiren Rijiju and urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu, cricketer Virendra Sehwag, actor Randeep Hooda, champion wrestler Babita Kumari Phogat, besides hundreds of rightwing online warriors, launched #MissionTrollKaur. She fought valiantly in the face of even rape threats and abuses, but ultimately gave in:

A nation that takes immense pride in being a democracy had silenced one young dissenting woman.

But then, mightier, more renowned Indians have had to zip up before. So this is hardly news. One of the most illustrious cases was that of Indias most famous modern artist, Maqbool Fida Hussain, who died in exile following years of litigation and threats of physical harm by Hindutva goons over his paintings.

In a beautifully-worded verdict, the Delhi high court in 2008 rubbished all charges against Hussain and his paintings. The judgment by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, which starts off with Pablo Picassos famous wordsArt is never chaste. It ought to be forbidden to ignorant innocents, never allowed into contact with those not sufficiently prepared. Yes, art is dangerous. Where it is chaste, it is not artmakes for a riveting read.

While it largely deals with art and the creative fields, the judgment touches upon a variety of issues related to freedom of expression.

The complete text (pdf) ought to be a must-read for Indians. All the more so if you are the hyper-anything kindnationalist, sensitive, or prudish. Trolls, the little-known ones as well as the high-fliers, must keep a bedside copy.

For the benefit of our readers, we have here a few pertinent excerpts:

We welcome your comments at ideas.india@qz.com.

Go here to see the original:

To all of Gurmehar Kaur's trolls, the Delhi high court has a pertinent reminder of the importance of free speech - Quartz