The reference of “curbing free speech of public functionaries” to a Constitution bench was prompted by the statement of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan who, as urban development minister in UP government, had termed the horrific 2016 gang-rape incident on Noida-Saharanpur Highway as an “opposition conspiracy” because the “elections were near, and that the desperate opposition could stoop to any level to defame the government”.The reference of “curbing free speech of public functionaries” to a Constitution bench was prompted by the statement of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan who, as urban development minister in UP government, had termed the horrific 2016 gang-rape incident on Noida-Saharanpur Highway as an “opposition conspiracy” because the “elections were near, and that the desperate opposition could stoop to any level to defame the government”.