New digital media rules: Delhi HC to hear plea filed by Foundation for Independent Journalism

The Delhi High Court (HC) has agreed to hear a plea filed by Foundation for Independent Journalism (FIJ), a non-profit organisation which runs The Wire, challenging the new rules regulating digital news portals. The court said it will hear the parties “at length” on April 16.

This is the first challenge that has been issued to the IT rules that were recently notified by the government.

The Foundation's director and The Wire founding editor, MK Venu, and Dhanya Rajendran, Editor-in-Chief of The News Minute, are also petitioners in the case. The petition has also sought interim protection against any possible coercive action that could likely be taken under the new rules until the next hearing.