News publishers challenge India's privacy law in top court

A group of 21 news publishers has challenged India's privacy law in the Supreme Court, the country's top court, on Tuesday. The challenge was brought by the Digital News Publishers Association, known as DNPA. Its members include Network18, which Al Jazeera reports is owned by Mukesh Ambani, NDTV, which is owned by Gautam Adani, the Indian Express and Times Internet.

The law would require journalists to obtain consent from the people they write about. It also lets individuals withdraw that consent at any time and demand that their data be erased. The DNPA argues that the consent requirement amounts to pre-censorship, meaning control over material before it is published, and that it could force newsrooms to shut down, according to Al Jazeera.

The DNPA's filing points to the absence of a written exemption for journalists. The European Union, Singapore and Britain all have such exemptions, the filing says. The DNPA is represented before the court by the lawyer Madhavi Goradia Divan.

Media companies had received assurances in an August meeting with the government that the law would protect press freedom. The publishers' challenge comes after that meeting.

Another provision takes effect next year. From then, the law will allow the government in New Delhi to order any organisation handling personal data to furnish such information as it may call for.

Petitioners challenging the law have argued that it removes the public interest safeguard for disclosing personal information. They have also argued that it may impede investigative journalism. In March, Reuters reported that Indian transparency activists and journalists were preparing a Supreme Court challenge to the law.

The Supreme Court has said it will hear the DNPA's case next month.