Not our duty to tell media what to delete: Apex court

BENGALURU: The Supreme Court on Friday set aside the Delhi High Court's order directing Wikipedia to remove a page on Asian News International's (ANI) defamation proceedings, 1 declaring that "it is not the duty of the court to tell the media to 'delete this, take that down"".

- Ayesha Arvind

A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan reaffirmed media freedom and the principle of open justice, emphasising that the judiciary and press must supplement each other for democracy to flourish.

"Courts, as public institutions, must remain open to public scrutiny, observation, and debate, even more so in the digital age," the bench stated.

While avoiding examination of digital intermediaries' liability for third-party content, the Supreme Court held that the Delhi High Court had acted disproportionately.

"We are firmly of the view that the division bench's directions were disproportionate.

We find no hesitation in concluding that such directions ought not to have been issued," the court said.

The bench emphasised that judicial proceedings, even if sub judice, can be discussed in the public domain and reported by the press. It reiterated that restrictions on such discussions must be narrowly tailored, based solely on necessity and proportionality.

"For the improvement of any system, including the judiciary, introspection is key. That can only happen if there is a robust debate even on issues which are before the court," the bench observed.