I would have been remiss in not writing about the court’s rationale in the very same judgement, in refusing to strike down as unconstitutional, a different section of the same law – Section 69-A, which enables issuance of directions by the government blocking public access to electronic content. This provision has poor variants across various sections in legislation governing the financial sector, in practice, rendering them similar to anti-terror laws.
Hence my column in Business Standard this Monday, pointing out how the safeguards found by the court to save Section 69-A as constitutional, are sorely lacking in legislation governing the financial sector.
The inter-play of securities regulations with human rights is gaining attention in jurisprudence globally. The subject has drawn the attention of the European Court of Human Rights, which I refer to in my the Business Standard column. That judgement is in French but for those who cannot comprehend French, the English press release provides an excellent summary.