{"id":87458,"date":"2026-10-27T18:14:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T12:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=87458"},"modified":"2026-10-27T18:14:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T12:44:58","slug":"dpdp-act-media-press-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/27-10-2026\/dpdp-act-media-press-freedom","title":{"rendered":"Media Association Challenges Digital Privacy Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Polity and Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) has challenged the constitutional validity of the <strong>Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023<\/strong>, and the <strong>DPDP Rules, 2025<\/strong>, as a violation of journalistic freedom.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns Raised by the Petition<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Absence of journalistic exemption:<\/strong> The law does not provide a distinct exemption for journalistic activities, potentially subjecting publishers and reporters to notice, consent and data-erasure requirements.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Government access to personal data: Section 36 of the DPDP Act<\/strong>, read with <strong>Rule 23 and the Seventh Schedule of the DPDP Rules,<\/strong> is challenged for allegedly granting the central government broad powers to requisition information without adequate judicial oversight or safeguards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Impact on the RTI Act: Section 44(3) of the DPDP Act<\/strong> amends <strong>Section 8(1)(j) <\/strong>of the <strong>Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005<\/strong>, concerning the disclosure of personal information.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The DNPA argues that the amendment could excessively restrict access to information held by public authorities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Protection of journalistic sources:<\/strong> The petition argues that these powers could expose confidential sources, including whistleblowers and RTI activists, thereby discouraging investigative journalism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Constitutional Frameworks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Article 14:<\/strong> Guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the laws.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 19(1)(a): <\/strong>Protects freedom of speech and expression, providing the constitutional basis for press freedom and investigative journalism.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 19(2):<\/strong> It contains reasonable restrictions that can be imposed on the freedom of speech and expression.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Judicial and Committee Precedents<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) vs Union of India (2017): <\/strong>Declared <strong>privacy a fundamental right <\/strong>under the Constitution.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Restrictions on privacy must satisfy constitutional standards, including legality, legitimate state purpose and proportionality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>R. Rajagopal v. State of Tamil Nadu (1994) \u2014 Auto Shankar Case: <\/strong>The Supreme Court declared that the media could publish material that is in the public record, including court documents, without the consent of the individual, subject to established exceptions.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>However, publishing private details beyond public records could violate the right to privacy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Group of Experts on Privacy (2012), chaired by Justice A. P. Shah was<\/strong> constituted under the Planning Commission.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The report recommended that any legislation on privacy should <strong>not dilute or circumscribe the RTI Act<\/strong>. It emphasised that transparency and privacy must be complementary to each other.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Address inaccurate reporting<\/strong> through proportionate legal remedies rather than blanket requirements that obstruct publication before verification and disclosure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Provide narrowly defined exemptions<\/strong> for bona fide journalism undertaken in the public interest, subject to safeguards against privacy violations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Establish criteria to protect legitimate reporting<\/strong> on corruption, public officials and corporate wrongdoing while preventing unnecessary disclosure of personal data.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/indian-publishers-contest-modi-governments-privacy-law\/article71627054.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) has challenged the constitutional validity of the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, and the DPDP Rules, 2025, as a violation of journalistic freedom. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Concerns Raised by the Petition <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Absence of journalistic exemption: The law does not provide a distinct exemption for journalistic activities, potentially subjecting publishers and reporters to notice, consent and data-erasure requirements. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/27-10-2026\/dpdp-act-media-press-freedom \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87458"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87460,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87458\/revisions\/87460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}