Mouthshut.com v. Union of India
| Mouthshut.com v. Union of India | |
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| Court | Supreme Court of India |
| Full case name | MouthShut.com and Faisal Farooqui , v. Union of India and Ors. |
MouthShut.com v. Union of India was a case- a writ petition in the Supreme Court of India filed by the consumer review social media company Mouthshut.com to protect freedom of speech and expression on Internet. It argued against Sec. 66A and prayed for modifications or nullification of IT Rules and Section 79 of the Information Technology Act of India. The Supreme Court, in a historic judgement on March 24, 2015, ruled in favor of the petitioner(s) and repealed Sec. 66A, declaring it as unconstitutional and ordered reading down of various other sections of the IT Act, including section 79 and the IT Rules. As a result, Internet users are free to post anything online and publishers cannot be forced to take down content without a court order. This applies to all user-generated content online
The lawsuit and its proceedings were monitored by online Intermediaries, ISPs, telecom service providers and social media companies in India as well as overseas. According to the Center for Communication Governance, "this is one of the case under which India’s Supreme Court will define contours of free speech online."
The case was clubbed along with a petition filed by Shreya Singhal a law student, challenging India's IT Act's section 66A. Because the hearing for all the petitions challenging the IT Act were clubbed together by a Supreme Court order, the matter is sometimes also referred as Shreya Singhal case. Before the verdict, CNN reported that "...Mouthshut.com has taken its case to the country's Supreme Court to protect what it says are the rights of Indian citizens and consumers enshrined by the Indian constitution."
MouthShut.com approached India's highest court- the Supreme Court of India arguing about the draconian effect of Sec. 66A. It also prayed that India's Information Technology Rules 2011 be nullified or modified. These petitions were filed in April 2013. Writ petition was filed by MouthShut.com under Article 32 of the Constitution as the IT Rules were violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.
Mouthshut.com contended that people who post reviews on the website are denied their fundamental right to freedom of expression due to the provisions of Sec. 66A. Besides, it said that the IT Rules pose a significant burden forcing them to screen content and exercise on-line censorship. While a private party may allege that certain content is defamatory or infringes copyright, such determinations are usually made by judges and involve factual inquiry and careful balancing of competing interests and factors, which the petitioners are not equipped to make. The petitioners receive notices and phone calls from cyber cells and police stations asking them to delete content and provide information of users, which makes the running of their business difficult.
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