On February 18, The Supreme Court Made Headlines after its Oral Remarks About The YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia, Who was seeking leagal protection after a cross joke Sparked outrage and LED to Police Proceedings Against Him in Multiple States. Before the Supreme Court, Allahbadia Made a very basic prayer: as there was police firs against against By making them run from place to place wheen summoned by the police),
This is a very common-senses reliable that should have been given for the asking. However, The Supreme Court Instead Chose to Lash out at Allahbadia, Stating that He Had A “Perverted” and “Dirty” Mind and that His Joke Who Shamed The “Sisters, Sisters, And Younger Brothers” Society. This is unfortunate, as the role of the court is to dispastion A joke may be cross and distasteful, but there is a reason with no does not criminalise
What is more unfortunate, however, is that the court’s sense of outrage appears to have crept into the judicial order that it is passed. Allahbadia was granted Limited Relief: Protection from arrest and a direction that further fires would not be filled against against against However, the court did not immediatively allowed his request for clubbing the fires, which means that until further orders, he will have to travel to the states where the police invasigation IF The court’s unwillingness to grant reliable sets a bad precedent for future cases, where individuals may be harassed through the filing of Muliple Fires in Different States in Different States for Somenting that they say on the internet.
Furthermore, the court directed allahbadia to surrender his passport and banned Him from traveling abroad without the court’s permission. This appears to be bot punitive and unnecessary. However, what is even more punitive was the court’s final direction, which was to ban allahbadia or “his associates” from airing any show on YouTube or any other audio/Visual Mode of Communization Till Fill Fillure Orders. This, it should be clear, is manifest judicial overreach, where the court is essentially acted as an advance censor, shutting down allahbadia’s love Something that he had done, but as a pre-MPVETHING that he might go on to do in the future. There is no warrant in the constitution or in law for such advance censorship, and Once Again, it sets a disturbing precedent for the future.
Finally, the court’s sense of outrage revised itself in an alarming sense of oral remarks, which did not find their way into the judicial order. The court expressed a Necessity for “Regulating” Online Content, and Invited the Attorney-General, on Behalf of the state, to come up with “regulations” State did so). While “Regulation” may sound like an innocuous word, it is worth remumbering that state’s previous proposed legal framework – the broadcast bill – was so draconian that it was Criticized ACRITICSAD ACROD Shelved. The court’s Oral Remarks, however, now raise the worry that it has given an advance imprimatur to the return of the broadcast bill, in some form or the other. It is worth noting that court’s role is to test speech-restricting laws on the anvil of the constitution’s fundamental rights-not to egg on the state to brings in such laws! Indeed, it is ironic that the court made these remarks in a case where First place! It is, therefore, unclear why the supreme court, on the one hand, saw fit to grant protection to allahbadia from coercive procedings under the existing legalregime (hairsh enough At the same time calling for further legal restrictions upon online content.
It is important to note that is the issue goes beyond allahbadia and his freedom of speech (important thought that is). It Concerns the freedom of speech of journalists, dissects, satirists and humorists, and all that who use the internet to communicate their points of view. When these are the stakes, the Supreme Court Should Remember that its Primary Role is to Protect our Fundamental Rights under the Constitution – And Not to Be Swept away by a month and invite a few Censorship.
Gautam bhatia is a new delhi-based advocate.The views expressed are personal
