On March 20, the Supreme Court of India stayed the notification of the controversial fact check unit (FCU) issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in view of the pending final verdict of the fact check unit case before the Bombay High Court. The final verdict of the Bombay High Court case will be delivered following the concluding remarks of the third referral judge Justice A S Chandurkar, likely to be made on April 15, 2024.
The IT Ministry’s move to establish a FCU has been challenged on the grounds that it violates fundamental rights to free speech and expression protected by Article 19(A) of the Indian constitution. Particularly in view of the approaching elections, the legal counsel said that the operation of the rule to create such an FCU would amount to the “singularity of the truth” as approved by the government.
In this video, MediaNama journalist Vallari Sanzgiri, and Founder-Editor Nikhil Pahwa unravel the arguments made by the Court and talks about the impact of a fact check unit on online speech, journalistic practices and the freedom of the press in India.
Watch the video to know more:
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