Bombay High Court Strikes Down Amended IT Rules Citing Unconstitutionality

The Bombay High Court declared the amended IT Rules unconstitutional, citing violations of constitutional provisions. Justice A S Chandurkar struck down the rules, which aimed to identify fake content about the government. This ruling supports petitions challenging the rules, including the provision for a Fact Checking Unit.

The Bombay High Court on Friday deemed the amended Information Technology (IT) Rules unconstitutional and struck them down. These rules aimed to identify fake and false content on social media against the government.

The case reached Justice A S Chandurkar, who ruled that the amendments violated constitutional provisions such as Article 14 (right to equality), 19 (freedom of speech and expression), and 19(1)(g) (freedom and right to profession). The amended rules included vague terms like 'fake, false, and misleading,' which lacked clear definitions.

The court's decision came after a divided ruling from a previous bench. While one judge found the rules act as censorship, another did not see any chilling effect on free speech. Nevertheless, Justice Chandurkar agreed with the opinion that deemed the rules unconstitutional. This ruling is a win for stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and others who petitioned against the guidelines, including the provision to establish a Fact Checking Unit (FCU) for flagging misleading content.

(With inputs from agencies.)