March 25, 2015 – The verdict is rocking, with the times. Beautiful quotes (by) Shakespeare, Mark Antony’s speech in Julius Caesar to explain what incitement means. (It is a) Very thorough judgment. The world was watching and while last week, it was difficult to justify the litany of bans, this week our heads are held high.
The Government, if (it) is serious about making a digital India, must be prepared to shun the desire to curb free flow of information and provide a conducive business environment with least amount of unnecessary legal hassles. I am very hopeful that Mr Modi will do the right thing for youth, free speech and business.
In Section 79, there is no need to worry as by reading down by making a court order mandatory, the court has injected much needed safeguards. Now, only after application of a judicial mind can content be taken down. This is great relief to those who were being constantly harassed by corrupt real estate developers, crooks running educational institutions who wanted all negative content about them taken down. The legal process will filter out the non-serious complainants.
In the blocking rules and Section 69A, Supreme Court blocking can only be done when Government finds it really necessary and only on conditions laid down in Article 19(2) which can be challenged in a writ petition in the High Courts if found to be violative.
(As told to Neha Alawadhi)
