The Leaflet moves high court against 'vague, overbroad, unconstitutionally arbitrary' IT rules https://www.newslaundry.com/2021/07/05/the-leaflet-moves-high-court-against-vague-overbroad-unconstitutionally-arbitrary-it-rules 05 Jul, 2021
Highlighting the attack on the freedom of the press in India, the parent company of legal news portal Leaflet and its contributing editor Ashish Khetan have challenged the new IT rules via a writ petition filed on June 29 before the Bombay High Court.
The petition read: “The IT Rules, 2021 impose unreasonable, excessive, and tenuous burdens on digital news publishers, which are designed to restrict and narrow the scope of reporting undertaken by such publishers and place unfeasible economic hardship on them, thereby imposing a disproportionate burden that directly violates the rights of the press that are protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India.”
It further stated that the IT Rules contain provisions that enable the government, without any limitations or guidelines, to direct the modification of content published by such news publishers. It said, “[This empowers] the State to dictate and direct what is being published by the press, which amounts to a gross violation of the freedom of the press.”
Journalist Nikhil Wagle moves high court against 'arbitrary, illegal' new IT rules 02 Jul, 2021
senior journalist Nikhil Wagle submitted that the rules were infringed upon fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the constitution. He said the rules were "against the law" since they go beyond the remit of the Information Technology Act, 2000. the Rules provide "unfettered powers to the executive to direct the intermediaries to delete or modify or block the relevant content and information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in their computer resource for public access."
Quint files plea against new digital media rules in Delhi High Court https://www.newslaundry.com/2021/03/19/quint-files-plea-against-new-digital-media-rules-in-delhi-high-court 19 Mar, 2021
A notice has been issued to the government to respond to the petition that challenges the constitutional validity of the new guidelines. The Quint’s petition said that the executive power to virtually dictate content to digital news portal would squarely violate Articles 14 and Article 19 (1)(a) – equality before law and right to freedom of speech and expression, respectively – of the Constitution. The new IT rules, issued by the Centre on February 25, seek to regulate digital news portals by imposing government oversight and a “Code of Ethics”, therefore going beyond the scope of the IT Act.. “Upon the merest complaint or even without any, space has been created for the State to enter and control news and views by way of deletion, modification or blocking, censure, compelled apology and more. Clubbing online news portals with social media as distinct from the print news media is unfair and irrational classification.”
‘Digital media ethics rules go against fundamental principle of news’, says DIGIPUB https://www.newslaundry.com/2021/02/26/digital-media-ethics-rules-go-against-fundamental-principle-of-news-says-digipub 26 Feb, 2021 DIGIPUB News India Foundation said while self-regulation of all news media was “imperative and the need of the hour”, the rules gave the government vast powers that ran counter to the principle of freedom of expression enshrined in the Indian constitution...
the association noted, “rules and laws already exist to hold news media accountable”, yet the new rules enable the government to even remove content published as current affairs or news.
More worryingly, it added, the rules bypass established legal processes in favour of adjudication by a body of bureaucrats controlled by the central government. “This goes against the principle of separation of powers,” it said.