In a landmark tie-breaker ruling in the Kunal Kamra vs Union of India & Others petition, Justice A.S. Chandurkar of the Bombay High Court struck down some of the key provisions of the Information Technology Amendment Rules, 2023. The controversial provisions allowed the government to establish a Fact Check Unit (FCU), which would have effectively allowed the government to take down any content which they deemed as “fake, false, or misleading”.
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Justice Chandurkar said that the terms “Fake, False, and misleading” were too vague, which made them subject to interpretation by the government, thus endangering the fundamental rights of the citizens, including the right to equality, freedom of speech and expression, and the right to practice any profession.
This landmark decision by the High Court is being seen as a big step towards ensuring digital freedom in the country. These rules were being viewed as a massive blow to freedom of speech, as there was a looming danger that the government could try to silence its critics using the vagueness of the rules.
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The irony is that it took a comedian Kunal Kamra, to fight to ensure the rights of the citizens were maintained, while in reality, the one truly ensuring our rights should have been the government. It seems like we are witnessing a time when a comedian is coming forward to save our constitution and uphold our rights, while the ones in power seem to be doing comedy.
