Need to balance right to free speech, privacy: Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: SC on Tuesday acknowledged the importance of media’s right to freedom of speech and expression but said this needed to be balanced with citizens’ right to privacy and dignity and asked petitioner Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) to suggest how these two rights could coexist harmoniously.Entertaining DNPA’s petition terming certain provisions of Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and the amendment to RTI Act redefining ‘personal information’ as an attempt towards pre-censorship of news content that violated the media’s right to free speech and impeded media independence, SC said, “You are domain experts. You suggest to the govt and SC how to harmonise the two competing rights.Privacy act will hit freedom of Press: Digital news bodyA bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymlaya Bagchi and V Mohana said: “Media must ensure there is no misuse of the rights enjoyed by it. There must be a balance between your rights and the rights of innocent citizens. We will have to leave it to you to suggest how best you are going to ensure that the media’s rights are not misused and the right to privacy of citizens are not violated.”Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Madhavi Divan said provisions of DPDP Act failed to provide exemption in favour of journalistic activity as a distinct class and had brought the regime of notice and prior consent within it, which would lead to closure of newsrooms as they feed live information. If journalists went around seeking consent of people, then no news could be disseminated, she said.“It is not merely the fundamental right to speech and expression and dissemination of information owing to freedom of the press which has been set at nought by the aforesaid provision, but the DPDP Act places myriad restrictions in the manner in which information is accessed, processed and disseminated,” DNPA said.“In the absence of exemptions, the entire scheme under Chapter II of DPDP Act will constitute unreasonable restrictions upon journalists in the exercise of the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression and practise any profession or to carry on any occupation, trade or business,” it added.The petitioner complained that DPDP Act imposed onerous conditions governing how information was to be disseminated and how access was obtained and cited an SC judgement, which had ruled that the fundamental right to know could not be sacrificed at the altar of privacy.The bench issued notice to the Centre on the petition and tagged it with a clutch of petitions which are scheduled for hearing on Nov 17.Get the latest India News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.