Delhi High Court Dismisses PIL Seeking Censor Board For Non-Film Songs Released On Internet

The Delhi High Court has dismissed a public interest litigation which had sought setting up of a regulatory authority or censor board to review and censor the non-film songs and their contents including their lyrics and videos, before their release on internet. The petition had sought immediate ban on all non-film songs with "obscene/vulgar" content. 

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said that there is a clear regulation or regime laid down by the Central Government to regulate the information or content which is available to the general public through various media platforms.

“As far as television is concerned, the Cinematograph Act, 1952, and the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, addresses the issue regarding regulation of content which is being telecasted on these platforms,” the court said.

The court said directing appointment of a regulatory authority would result in legislation by the court which is not permissible.

It said that courts cannot mandate a statute or add provisions to a statute as it would amount to legislation “which is not permissible in the constitutional scheme of this country.”

“The role of judiciary is primarily only to test the legality of a statute and not to amend/modify a statute. Setting up of tribunals, authorities, regulators come purely within the domain of legislature and not in the domain of Courts,” the bench said.

Online Platforms

The court noted that the Union of India has brought out the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 laying down a regimen to be followed by every intermediary.

"Rule 3 & 4 of the Ethics Code applies to various intermediaries like Youtube, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, etc.,. These guidelines regulate the nature of content that should not be hosted by these platforms. These guidelines read with the IT Act also provides for offences in case of violation of the Ethics Code. In addition to offences under the IT Act, the violators can also be booked under the Indian Penal Code. Thus, the grievance of the Petitioner that there is no Regulatory Authority/censor board to censor/review the non-film songs, their lyrics and videos which are made available to the general public through various media platforms like Television, YouTube, etc. has been taken care of by the Ethics Code and the regime framed thereunder," it said.

The court further noted that Section 7 of the Ethics Code states that whenever an intermediary fails to observe these rules, the provisions of sub-section (1) of Section 79 of the Act shall not be applicable to such intermediary and the intermediary shall be liable for punishment under any law for the time being in force including the provisions of the Act and the Indian Penal Code. 

"Part III of the Ethics Code applies to publishers of news and current affairs content and publishers of online curated content and other intermediaries which disseminate information on various social media/digital media platforms. This is apart from the guidelines under Rule 3 & 4 of the Ethics Code and is applicable to digital media platforms and OTT platforms. The Government of India has ensured that these platforms, despite not being intermediaries, are also regulated and do not upload content that violates the below-mentioned rules and regulations," it noted.

The court said there there is a clear regulation/regime that has been laid down by the Central Government to regulate the content which is available to the general public through various media platforms and thus contention that that there is no regulatory authority is incorrect

Title: NEHA KAPOOR & ANR v. MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING & ANR.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 91

Click Here To Read Order