Are we really a people who can claim that they live in the shelter of each other is the question. Mob-whipping posts on social media and fake news continue to destroy lives and wreck reputations with impunity. Media trials continue under the gaze of constitutional courts despite the Supreme Court’s interdict, while citizens’ right to liberty, fair trial and reputation are mutilated at will. Parliament, too, as the highest forum of democracy, cannot escape its share of responsibility for our faltering record on human rights. The dysfunctionality of legislatures in recent times, reflected in routine adjournments, and scrapping of the Question Hour have compromised the quality of legislative oversight in law-making. The much contested farm laws, passed in both Houses of Parliament without discussion by a voice vote, are a recent illustration. Enactment of the often abused ‘over broad’ laws without thoughtful deliberation have had grave consequences for the liberty and dignity of citizens. Illustrative examples include Section 69A of the Information & Technology Act and “blocking rules”, Section 505(1)(c) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) relating to hate speech, which bring to mind the persecution of Perumal Murugan, editor Shirin Dalvi and the celebrated painter Maqbool Fida Hussain amongst others, Section 3(1) of the Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act and Section 124-A of the IPC—the colonial era’s sedition laws.