freedom of speech

Everyone’s talking about the cat that accidentally got out of the bag. Private screenings of a video featuring two people are being organised around town.

Reviews have been not been flattering. The video “deserves a PG-13 rating”, says one who saw it. “It’s a bit like a bad Hindi movie which usually shields anything remotely sexual with a flower or some such inane object.”

The Delhi High Court has ex parte ordered three media houses against publishing a digital video allegedly depicting “sexual acts” of senior advocate and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, which the politician alleges is fake and an attempt by his former driver at extortion.

Mint legal correspondent Nikhil Kanekal argues in today’s legal page in the paper that the hearing the Supreme Court is waging against the media, is fundamentally unfair and misunderstands the trade of journalism, as lawyers and judges are often wont to.

Justice Markandey Katju, chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI), said that the PCI would challenge in the Supreme Court the Allahabad High Court’s order directing the government to prevent the media reporting troop movements.

Katju also added that that the Indian Express, which had come under fire and faced government denials for its story on army movements near Delhi, could not be faulted for its report.

Senior counsel Shanti Bhushan submitted to Chief Justice (CJI) Kapadia’s constitutional bench yesterday, that even incorrect statements do not justify restrictions on the media, and even half-truths and misinformation should not warrant punishment for contempt regardless of concern for the reputation of courts.

In today’s edition of Mint: On the morning of 10 August 2011, senior lawyer Harish Salve looked upset as he entered Chief Justice of India (CJI) S.H. Kapadia’s courtroom, holding a newspaper that had published an article on a case he was arguing in the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court was bluntly told on Thursday by senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan that it did not have the power to legislate and curb the press from reporting on court cases. Dhavan appeared on behalf of the Editors Guild, Foundation of Media Professionals and some individual journalists and argued that “internal mechanisms" of the media could resolve the concerns.

Day two of chief justice SH Kapadia’s constitutional bench hearing of the matter of press freedoms and individual rights saw the debate centered on the introduction of a “test of postponement” which will empower a judge in a criminal trial to prevent its publication if there is an apprehension of prejudice to the accused or any witness.

The Supreme Court’s special constitutional court of five judges headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sarosh Homa Kapadia descended into mixed messages and arguments yesterday as it sat for the first day to decide on new guidelines to regulate reporting of court cases by the media.

Press Council of India (PCI) chairman Justice Markandey Katju issued a press release today with his latest essay on the sensible limits of freedom of speech in an India only “partially emerged from the dark, feudal age”, Salman Rushdie’s prose, the Jaipur Literature Festival and why no one cares about Nobel prize winners.

Netizens world wide ‘celebrated’ today, with websites such as Wikipedia taking their content offline as a mark of protest against the tabling of the potentially draconian US Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Google, whose doodles usually denote a birthday or other notable day of feast, replaced its logo with a black square for US users. But what’s the fuss about? We have long had it as bad if not worse in India.

Breaking: The Bangalore-based Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) has carried out an undercover investigation into the “chilling effects” of new information technology laws on freedom of expression online, with six out of seven major websites removing innocent content online without proper investigation, creating a “private censorship regime”.

The law playing catch-up with fast-moving technology and failing is almost a cliché.

In many countries it is similarly common for law makers to try and finish the arms race with laws that leapfrog technology as well as common sense and constitutions.

Delhi-based management institute IIPM (Indian Institute of Planning and Management) has filed a Rs 50 crore defamation suit against magazine The Caravan, Penguin Publishing and Google after having injuncted the magazine from carrying an article critical of the IIPM.

Kochhar & Co managing partner Rohit Kochhar has withdrawn a case against Legally India in the Cyber Regulations Appellate Tribunal on Friday, which had passed a stay order five weeks ago prohibiting Legally India from publishing any material relating to any of Kochhar’s disputes.

The Delhi High Court has stayed the release of the book “Close Encounters with Niira Radia” written by controversial former senior counsel R K Anand after Radia filed for defamation and a mandatory and permanent injunction.