Supreme Court of India Comes Down On Bloggers

An anonymous reader writes "The Indian Supreme Court has ruled that bloggers cannot shelter under an escape clause such as 'Any views expressed are solely those of the writers' to exercise freedom of speech in discussions and statements online. The ruling comes in response to an anti-defamation case filed against a 19 year old student's Orkut community, commenting upon the right-wing political organization Shiv Sena. This organization is based in the western state of Maharashtra and has been responsible for inflammatory speeches and numerous attacks upon non-Maharashtrians." The article does not make it entirely clear whether the student owner is himself accused of defamatory speech, or only commenters posting on his site. His defense that an Orkut community is not equivalent to a public forum was denied.

Comments

Re:Oh Boy

[bhagwad]

True. It is hard to fire a judge here. However, the courts and specially the Supreme Court is seen to be one of the saviors of India because they are not afraid of the political classes.

Also, the judge who delivered this judgment was no less than the Chief Justice himself. Thing is, he hasn't said that what the blogger said was wrong. He says that the blogger is responsible for what he writes.

I'm disturbed by this. I believe the Internet should be a place where anyone can say anything. This will only increase anonymous blogging. On the other hand, I would be very hesitant to trash the judiciary as it's one of the few pillars of Indian society that is keeping corrupt politicians from doing whatever the hell they want.