Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides for freedom of opinion, and freedom to seek, receive and impart any information without interference. Moreover, in July 2012, the Human Rights Council had adopted a resolution affirming that the rights guaranteed to persons “offline”, also extend to the digital space.
Therefore, India has an obligation to ensure that its laws and policies do not flagrantly violate the freedoms enshrined in ICCPR. However, certain provisions of the new IT Rules purport to create an ecosystem where the right to exercise freedom of speech in the digital space, a freedom guaranteed under ICCPR, would be seriously jeopardised.
The broad language used in the new rules defining “unlawful speech”, such as “misleading”, “decency”, breach International Law, wherein restrictions must be provided by law and be formulated with sufficient precision to enable an individual to regulate his or her conduct…