No matter how laudable the new IT Rules are, if the effect is unconstitutional, they must go: Bombay High Court
The Bombay High Court on Thursday said that no matter how laudable or high the motives are while framing the new Information Technology Rules, if the effect of a rule or law is unconstitutional then it must go. A division bench of justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by political satirist Kunal Kamra, the Editors Guild of India and the Association of Indian Magazine and regional channels challenging the constitutional validity of the IT Amendment Rules, 2023. The new Rules require social media intermediaries to censor or otherwise modify content that relates to the Central government if a government-mandated fact checking unit directs them to do so. The court then said, “No matter how laudable or high the motives are, if the effect is unconstitutional then it has to go.” The bench noted, “When the intermediaries are not concerned with the content then they would just comply with the direction from the government.
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