The Bombay High Court on Friday quashed the amended rules of Information Technology, the aim of which was to identify content against the government as "fake and false" on social media, and ruled them unconstitutional. The court said that the rules infringed upon the right to equality and freedom of speech, and their vague and broad nature may result in a "chilling effect" on individuals and social media intermediaries.
Justice A S Chandurkar delivered the judgment based on his casting vote after a division bench put up a divided verdict in January 2024. The new draft of proposed rules had suggested the setting up of a Fact Checking Unit (FCU) that could have had the authority to mark online content misleading about the government as well. The court found the rules contravened several constitutional articles, particularly Article 14 pertaining to equality and Article 19 on freedom of speech and expression.
It has had petitions filed by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, the Editors Guild of India, and many others against the rules. The court ruled in support of the contention that the rules might have a chilling effect on the exercise of rights. This is because the court opined that without guiding principles, such rules were invalid. Justice Chandurkar has been candid enough to reiterate that freedom of speech does not carry the implication of a "right to the truth." Such an implication is certainly not there in the nature of the right. Further, the responsibility of the state does not lie in providing only non-fake or non-misleading information to its citizens.
The judgment further stated that words like "false, deceptive, and misleading" are vague and too broad and added the cause for the cancellation of those words. The disputed amendment, which was done by the Union government on April 6, 2023, had granted the FCU the power to label any online material false or deceptive, thereby threatening social media intermediaries with prosecution if they failed to take it down.
Justice Chandurkar concurred with what Justice Gautam Patel observed in his judgment that the rules amounted to censorship and the citizen's right to free expression. The Supreme Court had earlier stayed the notification relating to the FCU pending such ultimate hearing on those petitions which threw up serious constitutional questions.
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