Sahyog Portal

The Centre’s Sahyog Portal, a digital platform designed to expedite the blocking of “objectionable content” online, has been challenged before the Bombay High Court, raising fresh questions over its impact on fundamental rights and intermediary liability under India’s IT framework.

The Sahyog Portal, developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), was launched in 2024 to streamline and automate actions against unlawful online content under the Information Technology Act, 2000. The platform aims to bring all authorised government agencies and online intermediaries onto a single interface to enable swift takedown of content deemed illegal.

This is not the first legal challenge to the portal. Earlier, social media platform X (formerly Twitter) had approached the Karnataka High Court, questioning the legality of the mechanism. In September 2025, a single-judge bench of the Karnataka HC upheld the validity of the Sahyog Portal. However, X’s appeal against that order is currently pending before a division bench of the same court.

Meanwhile, in October 2025, the Union government notified an amendment to Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules. The amendment mandates intermediaries to remove or disable access within 36 hours to information used for unlawful acts upon gaining “actual knowledge”. The revised rule came into force on November 15, 2025.

The government has maintained that the amendment introduces additional safeguards to ensure that removal of unlawful content is carried out in a transparent, proportionate, and accountable manner.

However, the petitioners before the Bombay High Court have argued that decisions taken through the Sahyog Portal violate fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) (right to practise any profession or carry on any occupation, trade or business) and Article 14 (equality before law) of the Constitution.