Content on Internet must be uploaded with great caution, says Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has cautioned social media users to exercise “great caution” while posting content online, especially when the uploader has a large audience and exercises influence in society.

The Court said that the freedom of speech and expression granted by the Constitution under Article 19 must be exercised within the bounds of the reasonable restrictions it places, and when the speech crosses the line into insult, humiliation or incitement, it collides with the right to dignity.

“Before parting, just a word of caution for those using social media. The Internet has made knowledge easily accessible by intensifying its circulation. With this, however, it has also brought a large audience of every age group,” Justice Ravinder Dudeja said.

“Thus, any content on the Internet is porous and accessible to a large audience. Every content on the Internet must be uploaded with great caution, especially when the uploader has a large audience and exercises influence in the society,” the judge added.

The Court’s observations came while granting bail to actor Ajaz Khan, who is accused of making sexually explicit remarks on social media against the mother and sister of YouTuber Harsh Beniwal.

The Court said that since both Mr. Khan and Mr. Beniwal are social media influencers with a large set of audiences, they must be cautious of what they post.

“The audience may be influenced by the material posted by them and thus, even if the content is deleted after it is posted by them, it would reach a large set of audience, thereby leading to republishing of the same content/ sparking a debate over the content among their followers, which eventually affects the victim,” the Court said in its order passed on Thursday.

The Court said the prosecution’s case is based on the video recorded from the phone of the petitioner, which is already stated to be in the custody of the Mumbai Police.

In such circumstances, the need for custodial interrogation of petitioner Mr. Khan does not arise.

According to the prosecution, the actor was accused of hurling gender-based abuse, vulgarity and digital defamation of the complainants in a social media video.

On the other hand, Mr. Khan claimed that his video was in retaliation for a video uploaded by Mr. Beniwal, using derogatory words, abuses and obscene gestures.