IT Rules Amendment: Government Has Loudest Voice With Biggest Megaphone, Doesn't Need Fact Check Unit for Its Protection, Says Justice Gautam Patel
The Bombay High Court judge made the observation during a split verdict. Justice Patel also called the "Fact Check Unit" a form of "censorship" and said that the amendment violated the right to free speech under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.
Justice Gautam Patel, on Wednesday, January 31, said that he would strike down Rule 3(1)(b)(v) of the IT Rules amendment 2023, which empowered the government to establish a Fact check Unit and unilaterally declare online content related to the government's business on social media platforms as fake, false or misleading. The Bombay High Court judge made the observation during a split verdict. Justice Patel also called the "Fact Check Unit" a form of "censorship" and said that the amendment violated the right to free speech under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. "That the reasonable reader is infantile and cannot decide for herself or himself. This sits at odds with the fact that the biggest megaphone and the loudest voice is that of the government: if there is one entity that does not need such protection, it is the government," Justice GS Patel said. SC on Illegal Detention: Supreme Court Imposes Rs 12 Lakh Cost on Six Maharashtra Police Personnel for Illegally Detaining Three People.
Judge on IT Rules Amendment
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