NEW DELHI: Indian media groups told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the country’s privacy law could amount to pre-censorship, restrict investigative journalism and force newsrooms to shut down by requiring journalists to obtain consent from people they report on.
The hearing marks the most prominent legal challenge yet to the legislation, which has been challenged by 21 news publishers, including companies owned by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani.
“It is changing the whole concept of what is news,” Madhavi Goradia Divan, counsel for the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), told the court, warning that requiring permission before publishing reports could create a system of pre-censorship.
The publishers argue that the law could undermine investigative reporting, compel news organisations to remove published stories and give the government powers to demand information that could expose journalists’ confidential sources.
The Supreme Court scheduled the next hearing for next month.
In a filing earlier this month, the publishers said government assurances that press freedom would be protected were insufficient without explicit written exemptions for journalists, similar to provisions in the European Union, Singapore and Britain.
They are seeking the removal of most of the law’s disputed provisions, which are due to take effect in May 2027. Divan told the court that earlier versions of the legislation had excluded journalists, but the final version did not.
The DNPA includes Ambani-owned Network18, Adani-owned NDTV, the Indian Express and Times Internet, part of the Times of India group.
The case comes amid continuing concerns over press freedom in India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014. Critics have accused mainstream media outlets of insufficient scrutiny of the government, while the administration maintains that it respects press freedom.
Until this challenge, the law had primarily faced legal opposition from free-speech activists and smaller news organisations.