The Leaflet moves high court against 'vague, overbroad, unconstitutionally arbitrary' IT rules

Highlighting the attack on the freedom of the press in India, the parent company of legal news portal Leaflet and its contributing editor Ashish Khetan have challenged the new IT rules via a writ petition filed on June 29 before the Bombay High Court. The Leaflet is run by Nineteenone Media Private Ltd.

Among several grounds mentioned in the petition for the challenge, it stated that the act was ultra vires of its parent act, the IT Act 2000, while also violating Article 14, 19(1)a and 19(1)g and 21 of the constitution, and unlawfully delegating judicial powers to the executive.

The petition also reiterated that the rules were “vague, overbroad and unconstitutionally arbitrary” with “unconstitutional burdens that impede the freedom of press”.

The petition read: “The IT Rules, 2021 impose unreasonable, excessive, and tenuous burdens on digital news publishers, which are designed to restrict and narrow the scope of reporting undertaken by such publishers and place unfeasible economic hardship on them, thereby imposing a disproportionate burden that directly violates the rights of the press that are protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India.”

It further stated that the IT Rules contain provisions that enable the government, without any limitations or guidelines, to direct the modification of content published by such news publishers. It said, “[This empowers] the State to dictate and direct what is being published by the press, which amounts to a gross violation of the freedom of the press.”

Other petitioners

The Leaflet joins an army of petitioners who have also challenged the IT Rules.

A few days ago, senior journalist Nikhil Wagle moved a PIL in the Bombay High Court challenging the rules.

In March, Ritu Kapur, the director and co-founder of the Quint; the Foundation for Independent Journalism, a non-profit company which owns the Wire; News Minute founder and editor-in-chief Dhanya Rajendran; and the Wire's founding editor MK Venu challenged the IT rules in the Delhi High Court. A petition by digital fact-checking platform Alt News was also added to the case.

In the same month, the Kerala High Court had issued a notice to the central government on a plea by LiveLaw challenging the new rules.

Digipub, an association of digital publications of news and current affairs, including Newslaundry, had also written to union information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar in February expressing strong reservations against the IT Rules, 2021.