Emerald Heights International School and its Director Siddharth Singh have moved the Supreme Court seeking restrictions on children's use of social media and an enforceable regulatory framework to protect them from online harms.
The petition contends that protecting children from environments detrimental to their health, dignity and development is a constitutional responsibility of the State, and cannot be left solely to parental supervision or corporate goodwill.
It has sought a direction to the Central government to frame, notify and operationalise a dedicated, comprehensive and enforceable regulatory framework to protect children on social media platforms.
Alternatively, the plea seeks a prohibition on social media use by children below a prescribed age and regulation of use above that age, or enforceable age-based restrictions on children's accounts on designated platforms.
The plea has invoked Article 39(f) of the Constitution, which directs the State to ensure that children develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity.
The plea has also cited Article 39(e), concerning protection against abuse of children's tender age.
It also relies on Article 21, the State's public health obligations under Article 47 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The petition flags a range of harms linked to social media use, including depression, anxiety, compulsive use, social comparison, body-image dissatisfaction, disordered eating, sleep disruption and cyberbullying. It also points to grooming, sexual exploitation, coercion involving intimate images, exposure to violent, sexually explicit, self-harm and suicide-related content, as well as behavioural profiling and compulsive-use design.
According to the petitioners, such harms may develop unnoticed until serious damage has occurred, and cannot be adequately addressed through reassuring statements, voluntary platform measures or parental controls alone.
The petition seeks a declaration that the continuing failure to protect children against these foreseeable risks is arbitrary and violative of Articles fundamental rights including right to equality and right to life.
The petition was filed through advocate Vaibhav Choudhary.