Plea in Madras High Court seeks guidelines to govern FIRs against social media posts, political satire

The Madras High Court on Wednesday sought a response from Tamil Nadu’s Director General of Police (DGP) to a plea calling for guidelines to be put in place for dealing with criminal complaints against social media posts, particularly political criticism.

A Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan issued notice in the matter. 

The petitioner had earlier submitted a representation to the State authorities requesting the issue of a Police Standing Order or a circular prescribing uniform, lawful safeguards to be adhered to by police stations, cybercrime units and investigating officers before registering criminal cases on complaints against online content, including political satire.

The petitioner called for such safeguards to be laid down in accordance with the Constitution of India, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and Supreme Court judgments on free speech. 

Since the August 20 representation failed to yield any positive response, the petitioner has now approached the High Court urging it to direct the DGP to consider and pass a reasoned order on the request made in it. 

The case is listed next on November 26. 

[Read Order]