New Delhi: The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Centre on Monday that other respondents requested a ban on sexually clear material on Super Over (OTT) and on social media platforms and called it a “important issue.”
The judge, composed of Br Gavai and Augustine George Masih, emphasized that the regulation of online content is the responsibility of the legislature or executives. Judge Gawai observed: “This is not in our territory.” He mentioned the remarks of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who compared the court to a “super parliament”, while the recommendation of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, could be redundant if the court has legislated.
The petition was brought by five people seeking guidelines to establish authority to curb the spread of obscene content online. Deputy Attorney General Tushar Mehta appeared at the centre to assure the judge that the government would propose measures to balance freedom of speech with permitted restrictions set forth in Article 19(2). He described certain OTT materials as “not only vulgar, but also improper” and warned children of easy access to such content.
Vishnu Shankar Jain is advocated for petitioners that the lawsuit is non-confrontational and is only aimed at the maintenance audience. The court will now await a formal response before arranging further hearings.
