Courts should not gag criticism, says top court

...To tell someone to remove something just because there is some criticism of what the court has said or done is not okay

- Utkarsh Anand

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday emphasised that courts should not issue gag orders against media organisations and underlined that fair criticism of a judicial order cannot be construed as contempt of court, expressing concerns over a Delhi high court directive requiring Wikipedia to remove within 36 hours a page related to a pending 2 crore defamation suit filed by news agency Asian News International (ANI) against the platform.

"Why should courts be touchy about some comments made against their orders in social media?" asked a bench comprising justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, highlighting the importance of free speech rights for media organisations. The top court observed that it was "ironical" that ANI, itself a media entity, was seeking a gag order against another platform that disseminates information.

The bench questioned the Delhi high court's order issued on October 16, 2024, which held that criticism of a judicial order by the crowd-sourced encyclopedia Wikipedia amounted to "interference in court proceedings."