MouthShut.com approaches SC to safeguard 'freedom of expression'

MouthShut.com, India's online community for consumer reviews has filed a Writ Petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, inter-alia for quashing the Information Technology Rules (Intermediaries Guidelines), 2011 and declaring them as a violation of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India. "We are pleading with the highest court in the land to protect the rights of Indian citizens, consumers that are granted by the Constitution of India," said Faisal Farooqui, the Chief Executive Officer of MouthShut.com.

Mouthshut.com provides consumers the ability to write reviews on any product or service offered in India. Several lakh reviews have been written over the last decade and they are made available free of cost to everyone. MouthShut.com is a very popular and highly trusted destination for consumers who wish to better inform themselves before making purchasing decisions. The feedback also allows businesses to learn from consumer experience and improve the quality of their offerings.

According to Farooqui, "a very small percentage of companies wish that negative reviews about them would simply go away. Under the guise of ‘harmful speech' they approach us to remove such reviews. The new law is vague and would require MouthShut.com to remove any negative review about a company or brand simply because they don't like it, irrespective of the facts stated in the review." Farooqui adds, "We have been threatened with hundreds of legal notices, cybercrime complaints and defamation cases. At other times, officers from various police stations call our office, demanding deletion of various reviews or face dire consequences under the IT rules" Farooqui asserts that MouthShut.com "investigates every complaint and has a policy of not removing a review simply because someone doesn't like it. The challenged rules take away our ability to stand up to such demands."

The petition pleads to the Hon'ble Supreme Court that the IT Rules, 2011 should be struck down because they are so vague that it cannot be predicted with certainty as to what is prohibited and what is permitted. A consequence of this law would be the delegation of essential executive function to private parties like MouthShut.com to censor and restrict free speech of citizens or else face legal challenge for user's content