R. Nirmal Kumar, joint secretary of the AIADMK’s Tamil Nadu’s information technology (IT) wing, has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) against the state government’s appointment of a fact-checking unit. The petition filed by Nirmal Kumar in the Madras High Court on November 6 alleged that this fact-checking unit was illegal and would curb free speech.
The petition stated, “The illegal formation of the Fact-Check Unit is a frontal attack on the freedom of speech of the citizens in general and the choice of the persons to run it makes it an attempt to curb the opposition.”
According to the petitioner, the Director General of Police (DGP) of Tamil Nadu had been directed in 2020 to create special cells for monitoring social media content and the DGP had subsequently stated that a team of 203 officials and police personnel will be monitoring social media and fake news. The petition also claimed that other than the police, the government had no authority to form a fact-checking unit.
The Tamil Nadu government had passed an order on October 6 to set up a fact-checking unit and Iyan Karthikeyan was appointed as the Mission Director. The petition stated that Karthikeyan was a DMK supporter and urged that he be removed from the post. It added that the court should declare the Government Order issued by the Tamil Development and Information Department on October 6, 2023, for setting up the fact-checking unit, as unconstitutional.
The petitioner also pointed out that a proposal by the Centre to set up a fact-checking unit under the Information Technology Act, 2020, was challenged in the Bombay High Court which subsequently reserved its verdict. Thus, the Centre has now put this proposal on hold till the case is resolved. He asked how the DMK government could set up a fact-checking unit when there was already a legal case pending in India with regard to its constitution.