Mouthshut.com files a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging India's Information Technology Rules. Mouthshut.com stands up for the Indian consumers rights to voice their opinions.

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Press Release
MouthShut.com approaches Supreme Court to
safeguard freedom of expression
MouthShut.com, India’s leading 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 violative 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

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“It is a privilege to be a citizen of a democracy like India where an ordinary citizen can
appeal to a powerful court,” said Farooqui. “Laws are meant to ensure the well-being of the
nation – its people and institutions. Despite good intentions, IT Rules fall short of doing
that. This law has the potential to weaken or, worse, entirely corrode the robust protection
that the constitution of India offers to the freedom of speech. “
“The Internet simply changes the mode of communication,” said Farooqui. “It does not alter
the fundamental fact that behind those reviews are the views of Indian citizens who have
previously been expressing themselves freely in face-to-face meetings, articles in
newspapers, newsletters and magazines and other public forums. Curbing that right as
applied to online reviews or attaching strings to it is a disservice to the right of self-
expression guaranteed by the Constitution.”
Senior advocate Mr. Harish Salvi appeared for MouthShut.com on the brief filed by M/s
Lawyer's Knit & Co.
About Mouthshut.com
Founded in 2000, MouthShut.com is India's first and largest online community for
consumer feedback on products and services. Several lakh reviews have been published
over the past decade via online feedback, SMS or video, 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.
Besides offering consumers a free platform to express their opinions or benefit from the
opinions of others, MouthShut.com also has several programs for businesses and brands
that wish to benefit from the large repository of reviews to improve their products, service
and brand reputation.
For Further details, please contact:
Sagar Khatar
MouthShut.com
+91-96193-00064