A Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi on Monday asked the Centre to place on record the draft guidelines being proposed. This pertains to proposed guidelines to regulate conduct on social media, including various forms of content, which it ordered are to be formulated in consultation with the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA). The Supreme Court has granted time to the Centre to place the guidelines on record, and the next hearing is scheduled for November. Advocate Nisha Bhambhani represented the NBSA in the Supreme Court.
This directive was issued while the court was hearing a batch of petitions concerning comedians and podcasters who have faced legal trouble over their online content. It is now in the public domain that the Supreme Court has asked stand-up comedians Samay Raina, Vipul Goyal, Balraj Paramjeet Singh Ghai, Nishant Jagdsish Tanwar and Sonali Thakkar aka Sonali Aditya Desai to issue an unconditional apology on their YouTube channels and other platforms for their insensitive remarks against people with disabilities.
What’s The Directive?
The bench stressed that YouTube, podcasts, and online comedy platform need a regulatory framework in accordance with Article 21 (right to dignity) alongside Article 19 (freedom of expression). By bringing NBSA in the picture, the court seems to be aiming to extend NBDA’s self-regulation model from television to digital space, which currently lack clear rules.
The court has strictly stated that the guidelines should cater to future challenges and should not be “knee-jerk reaction” to any incident. “Such guidelines shall be drafted with consultation by NBSA. The suggestions and viewpoints of all stakeholders shall be taken. The guidelines shall not be knee-jerk reaction to any incident, but shall be wide enough to cater to future challenges,” the apex court stated as reported by Bar and Bench.
Furthermore, the bench emphasised that any guidelines framed must ensure that the rights of all citizens are protected without violating individual dignity, honour, or respect.
“Today, it is disabled, tomorrow something else. How will the society be affected…where will all this end?,” Justice Kant remarked.
While, Justice Bagchi remarked that humour is part of life, one should know when it breaches sensitivity. “Humour is part of life and we can take jokes on us. But when you start making fun of others…there is breach of sensitivity. India is a diverse country with so many communities and these are so called influencers of today. When you are commercialising speech, you cannot use a community and hurt their sentiments,” he said
Attorney General for India, R Venkataramani stated that there cannot be a complete gag and agreed to place on record the draft guidelines.
