Mumbai: Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra has approached the Bombay High Court, challenging the government’s ‘Sahyog’ portal as an “unconstitutional assault” on free speech.
Filed on Wednesday through advocate Meenaz Kakalia, the petition targets the portal alongside October 2025 amendments to the IT Rules, alleging they enable arbitrary social media takedowns.
The petition argues that the mechanisms unlawfully empower central and state government officials to issue blocking orders without following proc
edures under the Information Technology Act, 2000. “Rule 3(1)(d) and Sahyog render all internet information vulnerable to arbitrary takedowns, providing no remedy,” the petition states.
Sahyog was developed to automate the process of sending notices to intermediaries by the appropriate government or its agency under the IT Act, 2000, to facilitate the removal or disabling of access to any information, data or communication link being used to commit an unlawful act.
The portal aims to bring together all authorised agencies and intermediaries on one platform to ensure immediate action against the unlawful online information.
Emphasising that such powers “amount to an unconstitutional and unreasonable restriction on the freedom of speech”, the petition claimed such powers “go beyond the constitutionally permissible grounds that have been exhaustively enumerated under Article 19(2) of the Constitution”.