An Abstract of the Article

Censoring the Cyberspace: Issues and Challenges.

(Dr. Pankaj Kakde, S.P.College of Law, Chandrapur)

Keywords- Freedom of Speech, Internet, Censorship.

The entire episode of the dramatic arrest of a cartoonist Aseem Trivedi under the accusation of

waging war and sedition provoked a debate on the issue of censoring the cyberspace in India. Earlier also,

the Government of India has been issuing directions to different players in the cyberspace to remove

certain content on the internet. The search engines like Google and Yahoo, the social networking sites like

Facebook and Twitter, and the informative sites like Wikipedia had to face Governmental interference

and control with respect to the content placed on the internet and their functioning in cyber-world. India is

known for the Constitutional leverage that is allowed to the freedom of press in democratic circuits all

over the world. The freedom of speech and expression receives highest respect in India and the Indian

Government has set examples by enacting the legislations like Right to Information Act, 2005 to

emphasize its commitment towards the free speech. The Governments action against the cyber-world

therefore needs to be reviewed analytically and critically. The fundamental question of enquiry is whether

the uncensored cyberspace is a serious issue to be dealt with in present circumstances? Is it really posing

serious challenges to the National Security, law and order? What is the best possible manner to deal with

the issue without sacrificing the concerns of Free Speech as well as National Security and order? There is

an array of legislation governing the issue; Sec.124A of IPC which defines and punishes the seditious act,

the Official Secrets Act, the Information Technology Act, the Cinematograph Act etc. are the principal

legislations concerned. There are several other regulations, institutions and authorities which deal with the

issue of censorship at different levels, and for different forms of expression. This traditional framework

regulating the freedom of speech and expression in India along with the parental provisions of

Art.19(1)(a) and Art.19(2) of the Constitution needs to be systematically analyzed with reference to the

cyberspace. The Government initiatives in this respect for evolving a new legal regime to regulate internet

censorship must also be evaluated.

Censoring the Cyberspace: Issues and

Challenges.

A Research Paper presented at

State Level National Conference on

“Cyber Law and Information Technology: Contemporary

Issues.”

At

Department of Law

Yeshwant Mahavidyalaya, Wardha

20th

Oct 2012

BY,

Dr. Pankaj Kakde

Assistant Professor

S.P.College of Law, Chandrapur

Censoring the Cyberspace: Issues and Challenges.

Dr. Pankaj Kakde

Assistant Professor

S.P.College of Law, Chandrapur

The democratic governance necessarily envisages the liberty to express opinions as its

cardinal principle. This is why; most of the civilized nations practicing democracy have adopted

provisions to allow liberty of free speech to its citizens. Most of these nations have raised the

status of this freedom by according it a status of fundamental right; incorporating the right into

the highest law of the land i.e. Constitution. At the same time it is made clear that by its very

nature this right cannot be absolute and has to be enjoyed within reasonable restrictions. The

right is expected to be enjoyed very sensibly and responsibly by the citizens of the nation. The

right incidentally is also a source of freedom of press and media to report the news and views

without any fear and favor. The information which is related to the governance of this nation,

must reach the citizens to enable them to frame informed opinion and make informed judgments

regarding the governance. This is the essential value of the democracy and media shoulders very

important Constitutional responsibility in this regard. The restrictions on the freedom of speech

and expression are equally applicable in the case of media, though it can be relaxed to a certain

extent in the interest of public, as publication of the news and views is important for the survival

of democracy. If it is a responsibility of the government to ensure that the freedom of speech and

expression stays protected for all concerned, it also has to be vigilant enough not to allow anyone

to transgress the limitations in which it shall be enjoyed.

The necessity of restricting the freedom of speech and expression gives rise to the idea of

censorship. The act of censorship ensures that no citizen or media utilizes their liberty in public

to the extent that it offends the standards of morality and decency; disturbs public peace, law and

order; disrepute’s the nation and its various institutions, or adversely affects foreign relations.

The government therefore generally sets up machinery for setting limitations and restrictions on

the freedom of speech and expression viz. includes the legislative enactments, rules and

regulations, different authorities and institutions. Through these measures, the government

imposes restrictions on the publication of views and expression, which violates the grounds of

prohibition and at the same time provides for the punishment to any act of publication against the

limitations prescribed.

The internet revolution in 20th

century has provided the people another very forceful,

easy to use and cost effective medium of expressing themselves. The liberty of loading different

content on several websites, making ones opinion public and sharing it with the public at large

through social networking websites is the newest trend dominating the different mediums of

expressions worldwide. This medium of expression knows no territorial limitations; its reach is

cross-border and magnitude to influence is unlimited. Its impact is beyond any assessment.

The cyberspace which has provided a very popular platform to express the views and

opinions to its users has raised several problems as to its regulation. Where the traditional

mechanism seems to be considerably effective in censoring the content published in conventional

media like News Paper, Magazines, Films and Television and strict adherence to the standards of

decency, morality, public peace and security of the nation is ensured; the content published over

the cyberspace attracts several difficulties. These difficulties primarily include the consideration

of the issues concerning the scope of freedom of speech and expression over the internet and the

effective regulations to control it given the nature of the medium and the technical difficulties

involved.

In India, the government has come up with new regulation to control publication of

content over the internet. It has asked the internet giants like Google and Yahoo to remove

contents on their websites in the form of videos, pictures, messages, comments etc. and also to

block certain websites. The social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter also attracted

governmental attention when government asked them to block certain accounts and disallowed

them from publishing certain comments. The bill is already on the floor of the Parliament to

reform the law and impose newer regulations on the internet censorship.

Recently, a cartoonist named Aseem Trivedi faced stringent action for the cartoons he has

published on the web in which he allegedly disrepute the Parliamentary institutions and

democratic values. He then was arrested on the charges of sedition, which later attracted

considerable public criticism. The comments and blogs published in respect of the ethnic conflict

in Assam which made several Assamese to migrate from their respective places of residence in

the country also brought the issue of internet censorship to the forefront. This has propelled the

need for analyzing the scope of the freedom of speech and expression in India and the extent of

censorship in the light of above said developments.

Censorship: Meaning and Nature.

The act of censorship is not of a recent origin. The censorship has dominated societies of

all forms and times. It’s most dreadful effects however were observed in Dictatorship where it

was used to suppress people’s voice and exploit them as per the whims and caprices of the

Dictators. The censorship in present democratic societies signifies the act by which the

limitations are imposed on the expression of views and its publication or communication in

different Media’s, on the grounds like morality and decency, sovereignty and integrity of the

nation, public order, security of the state etc.

The freedom to express without any fear is the fundamental principle of the democratic

governance. It is the backbone of democracy. The survival of democracy in its true sense rests on

the adherence to the value and ethics of free speech. For this reason whenever any restriction is

imposed on this freedom, it often affects the quality of democratic governance in the country.

The censorship is the act which restrains the citizens from enjoying the freedom of speech and

expression beyond the permissible extent. The liberty of free speech and expression by its very

nature can’t be enjoyed absolutely. The expression knows no limitations and hence if allowed

absolutely may result into several undesirable consequences. The moral and ethical foundations

of the civilized society demand confirmation to some basic standards of decency in all forms of

expression including speech, literature, films, television and every other known form of

expression. The exigencies of the modern State also demands maintenance of public peace and

order, upholding sovereignty and integrity of the nation, ensuring security of the state etc; which

might be endangered due to unrestricted freedom of speech and expression. For this reason the

modern States though on one hand ensures protection to the fundamental freedom of speech and

expression; also states the limitations on the same and has evolved mechanism often referred as

‘Censorship’.

The Indian Constitution provides for the fundamental right of freedom of speech and

expression and also states the limitations on the same. The Government through legislative and

institutional measures has set in force a mechanism to ensure that this freedom is enjoyed within

the stated restrictions and any act against it is punished.

Law Relating to Censorship.

The Constitution of India includes freedom of speech and expression as a fundamental

right under Art.19(1)(a) and obligates the State not to violate it unless on the reasonable grounds

stated under Art.19(2). The grounds on which the freedom of speech and expression can be

restricted includes, sovereignty and integrity of India, security, public order, decency and

morality, friendly relation with foreign States, contempt of court, incitement to offence and

defamation. The freedom of press is not distinctly provided in the Indian Constitution and the

Press derives its freedom to publish freely and fairly from the same source from which citizens

derive their freedom of speech and expression. The word ‘Expression’ in the said provision

clearly includes in its ambit every medium by which the thoughts can be expressed and

communicated and hence there was no difficulty for holding that the Press also enjoys the same

freedom of speech and expression as enjoyed by the common citizens of India. The analogy also

stands valid as to the restrictions on this freedom; as the press also has to abide by the same

reasonable restrictions in using its freedom as by the common citizens of this country.

The judiciary through the Constitutional interpretation of the above said provisions has

evolved a considerable jurisprudence concerning the freedom of speech and expression of the

individual and the media. It, in its various landmark pronouncements, has defined the nature of

this freedom and the extent and limitation in which the liberty can be enjoyed. The freedom of

speech and expression includes the right to acquire information and disseminate the same. It

includes the right to communicate through any available media whether print or electronic or

audio-visual, such as, advertisement, movie, article or speech, etc. This freedom includes the

freedom to communicate or circulate one’s opinion without interference to as large a population

in the country, as well as abroad, as is possible to reach.1 The present view was confirmed by the

Supreme Court in several judgments pronounced and has become a hallmark of the free press in

1 M.P.Jain, Indian Constitutional Law, p.988.

India.2 In tune with this observation of the Apex Court, it further upheld the freedom of press as

inviolable and held that no unreasonable restriction can be imposed on the press in dissemination

of information to the public.3 If the Apex Court on several occasions preferred to protect

fundamental freedom of speech and expression of the citizens and the media, it has also not

hesitated in prescribing limits to the said freedom in the light of the restrictions imposed under

Art.19(2). In K. A. Abbas v. Union of India4, on the reasoning that the films have to be treated

differently from other forms of Media, it upheld the censorship of films. In Kedar Nath v. State

of Bihar, the Court upheld the validity of Section 124A of IPC. The Supreme Court in

Chandrakant v State of Maharashtra5 held that there is nothing wrong to prohibit publication on

the grounds of decency and morality, but at the same time warned that art should be preserved

and promoted while doing so.

Along with these Constitutional provisions, the Indian Parliament has enacted several

laws relating to the freedom of speech and expression. By enacting these laws not only the

Government has fulfilled its Constitutional obligations of protecting fundamental right of citizen

but also has ensured that the freedom is enjoyed within reasonable restriction.

Official Secrets Act, 1923

This is the Legislation carried over from the British regime to the Independent India. The

law is in form of the response from the Government to ensure that no citizen or media utilizes the

freedom of speech and expression given to them against the sovereignty and integrity of the

nation. The act not only restrains the public from entering into any restricted and prohibited areas

of the Government, but also precludes a person from holding into his possession anything related

to the governmental office. But the most important implication of the Act is on the freedom of

expression. The information and expression are two sides of the same coin. One cannot express

himself in the absence of information. The Official Secrets Act enables the government to

withhold certain information from the citizens on account of sovereignty and integrity of the

nation. The government is often criticized of withholding certain information from the citizens to

protect its selfish interests which definitely affects the freedom of speech and expression

adversely.

Cinematograph Act, 1952

If the Official Secrets Act, 1923, is the measure taken by the government to ensure that

the freedom of speech and expression should not result into threat to the security of the nation

and its sovereignty and integrity; the Cinematograph Act, 1952 is meant to control any damage

to the standards of decency and morality. The cinematographic films have enormous capacity to

exert tremendous influence on the moral and ethical wellbeing of the society. If the standards of

morality and decency are not observed and followed by the media’s like films and television then

it can prove fatal for the society in terms of decency and morality. The Cinematograph Act

2 State of Uttar Pradesh v. Raj Narain, AIR 1975 SC 865; Dinesh Trivedi, M.P and Others v. Union of India, (1977) 4

SCC 306; Association for Democratic Reforms v. Union of India, AIR 2001 Del 126. 3 Sakal Papers v. Union of India, AIR 1962 SC 305; Bennett Coleman and Co. v. Union of India, AIR 1973 SC 106.

4 AIR 1971 SC 481

5 AIR 1970 SC 1390

provides for the regulation of contents shown in films on the above said standards. For this,

Censorship Board is established, which is empowered to scrutinize the films to grade them and

issue suitable certificates.

The board is established to fulfill the objectives of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and to

perform the functions assigned to it under the Act. The Statutory Board is responsible for

scrutinizing the contents of the films covered under the provisions of Cinematograph Act and to

issue them the certificates as per the grades decided. The Board thus plays a very important role

in controlling the obscene contents from being published for undesirable audiences. Since its

inception the Board has played a phenomenal role in regulating and judging the cinematographic

creations on the standards of decency and morality in India.

Press Council Act, 1978

The law was enacted to regulate freedom of press in India. As discussed above the Press

has a very important responsibility to shoulder in democracy. It is a very important channel

between the government and the citizens, through which the citizens receive information about

the functioning of the government. The Press Council Act has twofold purpose of allowing

sufficient liberty to the Press in the matters of reporting by ensuring that the Press is not

unnecessarily restricted on non-feasible grounds and at the same time to ensure that the Press

functions within the permissible standards of morality, ethics and decency as well as does

nothing to harm the national interests, sovereignty and integrity of the nation, and public peace

and order.

The Press Council is a statutory council established for carrying out the purposes of The

Press Council Act, 1978. The Council is responsible for protecting the interests of the Press

against any restrictions on its freedom of reporting and dissemination of news. The Council also

confirms that the Press conducts itself according to the firm ethical foundations of journalism

and enquires into the complaints against the Press on various grounds.

Information Technology Act, 2002

The growing use of internet in India required the government to come up with special

legislative enactment to deal with various issues concerning the cyberspace. The IT Act, 2000 is

the response of the government to this call of necessity. By this law government has dealt with

and provided for different regulations concerning E-commerce, electronic records and its

authentication, electronic governance, authorities to deal with cyber related issues, penalties and

punishments for the acts prohibited under the Act, and also the suitable amendments in the laws

like IPC and Evidence. The Act as of now is the principal legislation regulating cyber law in

India.

Other Regulations

Apart from these special laws and regulations related to censorship, there are other

several laws and regulation, which though are general in nature, effectively exercise control on

the freedom of speech and expression on different grounds. The Indian Penal Code consists of

several provisions which are attracted when freedom of speech and expression is exercised in the

manner prohibited by the law. Section 95 of the Code of Criminal Procedure gives the

government the right to declare certain publications ‘forfeited’ if the ‘publication ... appears to

the State Government to contain any matter the publication of which is punishable under Section

124A or Section 153A or Section 153B or Section 292 or Section 293 or Section 295A of the

Indian Penal Code”. For Example, Section 153A of the penal provides that, Whoever (a) by

words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes

or attempts to promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or

community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will

between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, or (b)

commits any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious,

racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, and which disturbs or is likely to

disturb the public tranquility, . . . shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to

three years, or with fine, or with both. Whereas, section 295A says, Whoever, with deliberate

and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India, by

words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise], insults or

attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with

imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or

with both. There are other legislations like Emblems and Names (Prevention of Inappropriate

Use) Act, 1950 and Prevention of Insult to National Honor Act, 1971 to deal with specific issues

concerning the freedom of speech and expression.

Internet Censorship

The Cyberspace is the virtual space created over the internet which constitutes of the

network of computers used for different purposes and by different people all over the world. It

differs from the traditional conceptions of the space in a sense that it requires no territory, it

knows no boundaries and it is beyond the notions of nationality or citizenship. The cyberspace

has provided a very viable platform to the individuals and groups to express themselves on

different issues. The different websites, blogs and social networking websites are in the service

of the people where they can express their views 24*7.This platform is not only used by the

individuals, but also by the different groups, either for commercial or non-commercial reasons,

for expressing views and opinions. On one hand this is seen as a good and healthy sign for the

maintenance of democratic values as the individuals are provided with the low cost and effective

medium of expressing themselves freely, but at the same time it has given rise to several

concerns concerning the cyber security in terms of national security, public order, sovereignty

and integrity of India, decency and morality etc.

The issue of censoring the cyberspace has come up for consideration in India on several

occasions in recent past. The Mumbai Police banned the website called

‘catoonsagainstcorruption’ hosted by Aseem Trivedi for publishing the content which not only

disrepute the democratic institutions of the country but also amounted to sedition as defined

under Sec.124A of IPC. He was arrested on this charge, which attracted severe public criticism

in India. This was of course not the first occasion of imposing censorship on the web. Earlier

when the social networking site Facebook hosted a page called ‘I hate Ambedkar’; it disrupted

the public order in India, for which the government asked the Facebook management to remove

the page from their website. Several Twitter handles were requested to be closed for the reason

of being communal in content and provoking the hatred amongst the people in India. In

December 2011 the Journalist named Vinay Rai filed a case against the internet giants like

Facebook and Google for hosting the content offensive to the religious feelings of the citizens in

India.

The IT Act, 2000 was amended in the year 2008 to introduce certain safeguards against

the freedom of speech and expression exercised over internet and to see that no one is allowed to

publish any content on the web which threatens security of the nation, affects sovereignty and

integrity of the nation, violates the standards of morality and decency or incites anyone to

commit any offence. The amendment has added three new provisions to the Act, viz. includes,

Sec.69 whereby the power is given to the government to issue directions for interception or

monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer resource, Sec.69A in which

the government is vested with the power of issuing directions for blocking for public access of

any information through any computer resource, Sec.69B authorizes the government to monitor

and collect traffic, data or information through any computer resource for cyber security.

The Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette on 11th

April 2011

provided for different rules to be followed by the Intermediaries in publication of content over

the cyberspace. The Rules are called as The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines)

Rules, 2011. The Rules were framed by the Central Government owing to the power conferred

on it under Sec.87 and Sec.79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The Rules obligates the

Intermediaries to follow certain requirement like,

1. The due diligence has to be exercised by the intermediary in displaying, hosting, publishing,

sharing, transmitting, and uploading any information, whose contents are not authorized, which

is libelous, obscene, harmful, harassing, hateful, ethnically objectionable, disparaging etc., which

is harmful to the minors, which infringes the law and rights created under the law, and most

importantly threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India, affects

friendly relations with foreign states, disturbs public order or causes incitement to the

commission of any cognizable offence or prevents investigation of any offence or results into

insulting any other nation.

2. If an affected person writes to the intermediary about the objectionable content, the content

must be removed within thirty six hours of the complaint.

3. The intermediaries must cooperate with the government in all the matters concerning cyber

security and must abide by the directions issued to them.

The Indian government has already prepared a proposal to be presented at the United

Nations for regulating and governing the internet. The Indian stand on the issue matches the

stand taken by China which is also pressing for the internet governance at global level and by

global organization. There are many countries, though, who are criticizing these proposal and the

efforts are being condemned as in violation of free speech. (Courtesy:

articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com)

The Google in its transparency report has disclosed that it has received more than 1000

request form different governments worldwide to remove content form the web in current year. It

is also stated that 49% rise is seen in the requests received from the Indian government as

compared to the complaints received last year. The report also states that most of the requests

were for removing the political content. (Courtesy: articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

The question arises as to the extent of internet censorship in the present circumstances.

The freedom of speech and expression, which by its very source is not absolute and several

grounds of restrictions being provided, is limited to a considerable extent in India. Moreover

with other several legislations in force, it is circumscribed further on several grounds. The

question therefore arises as to what extent the Governments initiatives in providing for

censorship on the content over internet can be justified. The traditional mechanism and plethora

of laws already in place, whether are not sufficient to deal with the issue of internet censorship.

Is it really necessary to come up with special rules and regulations for censoring the content over

internet? The standards are already set on which freedom of speech and expression can be

regulated and dealt with the help of legal mechanism in force. In these circumstances the rules

prescribed by the government allowing even a common citizen to ask the intermediaries to

remove content over the internet and the obligation of the intermediaries to respond positive to

the demand has really affected the status of freedom of speech and expression over internet. The

authority given by these rules to the government of blocking the websites on the several grounds

specified therein, seriously hampers the freedom of expression on the web. The recent action

taken by the government against Cartoon Website and its owner or the way in which it handled

the blogs concerning ethnic violence in Assam or the directions given to the social networking

sites of not to publish certain content over their websites and to block certain accounts, raises a

serious doubt on the bonafide intentions of the Government. As it is being said that the

government is misusing the sweeping powers it has received under several rules and regulations

of controlling the content over cyberspace, to achieve its political manifesto; the voices are being

raised to oppose the government’s move.

Conclusion and Suggestions

The censoring of cyberspace is certainly an issue of grave importance. It is clear from the

international scenario that, it is not only India, which is concerned about this issue of 21st century

but different countries in the world including the global leaders like China6 and United States

7

are also seriously affected by free internet. There shall not be any hesitation in holding the view

that just like any other medium of expression the internet shall also be subjected to the similar

restrictions to which the other forms of media are subjected. If the article published in a

6 China has recorded its dissent over the free internet and is in favor of regulating the same by UNO.

7 The Google Transparency report reveals that the number of content removal requests from America has doubled

in last year.

newspaper, the films produced and the speech delivered in the public can violate the grounds of

restrictions like sovereignty and integrity of the nation, security of the state, public order,

decency and morality, incitement to an offence etc. there is nothing to prevent the content on the

internet to produce similar results. The uncensored videos published on the net, the vulgar and

obscene pictures uploaded, the filthy comments recorded on the blogs can also transgress the

limitations of the free speech and may produce the undesirable results, sometimes even to a

greater extent of what are produced by the traditional media. Hence, giving a special status to the

internet in the matters of freedom of speech and expression does not seem to be good idea. The

question is whether the limitations can be imposed on the freedom of speech and expression by

using the same mechanism as is in the place for other forms of expression. The Constitution of

India is fundamental law of the land and is the source of all rights and responsibilities including

the freedom of speech and expression. Therefore, the Constitutional limitations applicable to the

freedom of speech and expression are surely applicable to the exercise of this freedom on the

internet also. The reasonable restrictions provided under Art.19(2) of the Constitution therefore

shall regulate this freedom wherever and in whatever form it is exercised. The general laws like

IPC and Cr.P.C again are not alien for restricting the freedom of speech and expression on the

net. The provision of these laws are attracted whenever the act prohibited under these laws is

committed, again in whatever form and by using whatever means. It makes no difference to the

purposes of IPC that the sedition is committed by publication of views in the newspaper or on

the website. If the result of the words expressed is hatred, it will attract the penalty under the law.

There is nothing in law to prevent the government or the State from utilizing these provisions to

take action against the exercise of freedom of speech and expression in the manner not warranted

by the provisions of these law, even though they are related to the cyberspace.

The Cinematograph Act and the Press Council Act are the special legislations to deal

with the standards of free speech and expression to be complied with respect to the particular

media. There is no such special legislation to control and regulate freedom of speech and

expression over internet. The Information Technology Act, 2000 is the only special legislation

which deals with the control and regulation of cyberspace for different activities. It includes in its

fold all the aspects relating to the internet in India. Under the law the Central government is

vested with a power of framing rules and regulation in this respect. The Information Technology

(Amendment) Act of 2008 along with the Information Technology Rules of 2011, caters the need

of censoring the cyberspace in India presently. This can be equated to the special legislations like

Cinematograph Act and the Press Council Act, which now deals specifically with the issues

concerning the censorship of cyberspace. There seems nothing wrong on the part of the

government to evolve a specific mechanism to address the concerns of censoring over the

internet.

Though, certainly questions can be raised as to the extent to which this censorship is

carried out. Today, the internet companies are abiding by the different directions of blocking

websites etc. by the government, and requests of content removal by the public are also

positively entertained by these companies. They are doing this for a reason that they don’t want

to be in the hassles of the litigation over these issues. The government without providing an

opportunity of defense is banning the websites, sometimes on unreasonable grounds. And, still

the government is pressing for even stricter regulations to circumscribe the freedom of speech

and expression on the web, which certainly is the issue of concern for maintenance of democratic

values and cherishing the highest freedom accorded to the people in democratic framework.

It can therefore be suggested that, the government shall immediately review its stand on

censoring the cyberspace. The proper mechanism shall be evolved to balance the concerns of

free speech and limitation upon it in the virtual world. No sweeping powers shall be vested in the

government to impose restrictions on the free speech over internet. And most importantly the

value system and ethical foundations of our society shall be respected in expressing ourselves

over the internet, as is done in any other form of media.

References

Basu, Justice Palok, Law Relating to Protection of Human Rights, Modern Law Publication,

New Delhi, 2006.

Jain, M.P., Indian Constitutional Law, Wadhwa, Nagpur, 2005.

www. timesofindia.com.

www. economictimes.com.

www. diety.gov.in.

en.wikipedia.org.