Supreme Court Issues Notice On Actor Sushant Singh's Plea For Transfer Of Petition Before Bombay HC Against IT Blocking Rules

The Supreme Court today issued notice on a plea filed by actor and social activist Sushant Singh seeking transfer of his petition challenging the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009 from the Bombay High Court to the Supreme Court.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih passed the order, listing the case with Software Freedom Law Center, India v. Union of India, wherein similar challenge to the Rules is pending.

Notably, in March this year, while hearing SFLC's petition, the bench of Justices Gavai and Masih orally remarked that notice must be issued to users who are identifiable. "Both of us...prima facie, we feel that the rule has to be read in that manner...that if a person is identifiable, then notice has to be given...", said Justice Gavai.

Briefly put, in 2021, Singh's twitter (now 'X') account was suspended twice without any clear reasons. When he sought explanation for the action, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) denied him access to the relevant orders, referring to Rule 16 of 2009 Rules (which mandates confidentiality with respect to any action taken under the 2009 Rules).

Aggrieved, Singh approached the Bombay High Court against MeitY's refusal to provide information under the Right to Information Act regarding his account suspension. His contention was that content creators should get an opportunity of hearing before blocking actions are taken and that they should be given access to the blocking/suspension orders for the sake of transparency and access to appropriate legal recourse.

In addition to Rule 16, Singh also challenged Rule 8 (which provides that prior notice of blocking action be given to content originator "or" intermediary) and the validity of invocation of Section 69A of the Information Technology Act to withhold information sought under the RTI Act.

While his petition was pending before the High Court, SFLC filed its petition challenging the 2009 Rules before the Supreme Court, wherein notice was issued. As such, Singh filed the present transfer petition for transfer of his case before the Bombay High Court to the Supreme Court, as the questions of law raised are same, one being, whether invocation of Rule 16 to deny content creators/aggrieved persons access to blocking orders issue qua their speech is unconstitutional.

In related news, journalist Sanjay Sharma has also filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the 2009 Rules. He is aggrieved by the blocking of his YouTube news channel '4PM' on purported grounds of 'national security' and 'public order' and seeks urgent restoration of access to his platform.

Appearance: Senior Advocate CU Singh; Advocates Apar Gupta, Vrinda Bhandari, Anandita Rana, Bidya Mohanty, Gayatri Malhotra, Naman Kumar, Injila Muslim Zaidi, and Shravani Nag Lanka (for Sushant Singh)

Case Title: SUSHANT SINGH Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., T.P.(C) No. 1109/2025 

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