Comedian Kunal Kamra on Friday praised the Bombay High Court judgement striking down the amended Information Technology Rules (2021), which empowered the central government to set up a fact-checking unit to identify fake, false and misleading information about itself on social media. Kamra was one of the petitioners who approached the court last April, calling them “a direct assault by the respondent authorities on freedom of thought, speech and expression.”

Justice A.S. Chandurkar delivered the “tie-breaker” verdict on Friday, following a split verdict by a division bench in January. Justice Chandurkar, in his judgement, said that “Article 14 (right to equality), 19 (freedom of speech and expression) and 19(1)(g) (freedom and right to profession) of the Constitution.”

“They may keep trying, but we the people of India will always uphold the constitution to humble those who are drunk on Power,” Kamra wrote on Instagram, sharing an image of the Preamble of the Constitution. In a follow-up post, he thanked the Court for its decision and praised the efforts of his legal team.

“In a refreshing change, I approached the court as a petitioner in this case, rather than my usual role as a respondent or the accused,” he wrote. “Governments, across countries and party lines, often try to chip away at citizens’ rights. I hope this case serves as a reminder that we must always remain vigilant, and resist such attempts together.”