In a major ruling, the Bombay High Court has struck down the Central Government’s attempt to establish a Fact-Checking Unit (FCU) under the Information Technology Amendment Rules, 2023. The decision follows a petition by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra, challenging the constitutionality of these amendments.
Justice AS Chandurkar delivered the judgment, stating that the IT Rules violated Articles 14 (Right to Equality), 19 (Freedom of Speech and Expression), and 19(1)(g) (Right to Practice Any Profession) of the Indian Constitution. The NDTV quoted Justice Chandurkar as noting, “I have considered the matter extensively. The impugned rules are violative of Articles 14, 19, and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India.”
He also pointed out that the terms “fake, false and misleading” in the IT Rules were too vague and lacked a proper definition, making them legally problematic.
The case went to a third judge of the Bombay High Court after a split verdict from a division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale in January.
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Justice Patel had struck down the rules, warning that they could lead to censorship, while Justice Gokhale upheld them, arguing that the rules did not have any “chilling effect” on free speech.
The Supreme Court had previously intervened in March, staying the Centre’s notification that aimed to operationalize the FCU. The Supreme Court had instructed that the Centre could not proceed until the Bombay High Court’s final decision on the constitutional validity of the rules.
Kamra and other petitioners argued that the IT amendments would place unreasonable restrictions on freedom of speech and give the government too much power over online content. They expressed concerns that the government could become the “prosecutor, judge, and executioner” in determining what constitutes the truth online.
