PRAKASH SINGH MARWAH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The grievance, which propelled the present petitioner to invoke the inherent jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India, are unfold from an incident, which subsequently resulted into registration of an FIR bearing No.26, dtd. 19/5/2024, under Ss. 170, 186 and 419 of the IPC (Sec. 201 IPC, added later on), at Police Station Sector-49, Chandigarh.

(2.) The incident involved, is stated to be videographed by the police official, who was on official duty, and thereupon, the same was uploaded on various social media platforms. Considering the said act of uploading the incident on social media platforms, an infringement to the right of the present petitioner to live with dignity, and right to privacy, and also violative of Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the petitioner seeks a mandamus to be passed upon intermediary social media platforms, to remove the offending contents, as uploaded on different social media sites.

(3.) In deference to the directions issued by this Court vide order dtd. 22/5/2025, reply by way of affidavit of Raj Kumar Singh, IPS, Director General of Police, UT Chandigarh, on behalf of respondents No. 2 to 4, has been filed by Mr. Amit Jhanji, Sr. Advocate / Sr. Standing Counsel for UT Chandigarh, today in Court, and the same is taken on record. Copy thereof, has been supplied to learned counsel for the petitioner.