The Delhi High Court will hear a petition, challenging the constitutional validity of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 on Thursday, which came in force on February 25, 2021.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice D.N. Patel will hear the petition, filed by Advocate and author Sanjay Kumar Singh. The plea averred concerns regarding the unconstitutional restriction on the petitioner’s freedom of speech and expression in so far as to posting content on social media platform.
It pertinently circle around Section 3(1)(c) and 3 (1) (d) of the statute, respectively; which direct to remove content by social media platforms by alike users like the petitioner and to coherently provide for immediate termination of access to such social media platforms, if such a content is shared or published.
The intermediary notably is expected to initiate two-faced actions in as much as to firstly remove and not publish any content, regarding which it has been notified by the government and secondly, are expected to disable the access to such content within 36 hours.
Lest the intermediary – the social media platforms fails to comply with the rules, it would face imprisonment till seven years under subsection 3 of section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
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The plea prayed to strike down the rules under the Information technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which curtail the freedom of speech and expression, hold the ground of defamation, invasive of another’s privacy, libellous as in the manner laid in rule 3(1)(b)(ii) of the said stature, following which the court may be please to hold the grounds of unity and sovereignty of India with other foreign states preventing investigation of any offence, that might insult other nations as in the manner laid down as per section 3(1)(b)(viii) as well as section 3(2)(b) in toto, hold the Information technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 as ultra virus on any ground that the court might deems fit.
Source: ILNS