Social Media Trolling Atrocious, Even Judges Not Spared : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today orally expressed concerns about “social media trolling” and said that even judges are not spared by the same.

During the hearing of the bail plea filed by Swati Maliwal Assault Case accused-Bibhav Kumar, the Court said that social media trolling was "atrocious" and suggested that it is best to ignore the remarks made by "insensitive, irresponsible people".

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan heard the matter and granted Kumar bail, subject to certain conditions. More details about the same can be read here.

Before the bail was granted however, a counsel entered appearance for Maliwal and raised a grievance that she was facing victim-shaming and trolling over social media ever since the incident.

"In this case, the crime has not ended on 13th May itself. After that, the kind of trolling and victim shaming I am going through...I have to lodge a complaint. The petitioner's friends are continuously trolling...on X, on mails, on social media, everywhere..." he said.

The contention was countered by Senior Advocate Dr AM Singhvi, saying that Bibhav does not control 'X' (formerly, Twitter). The bench however sympathized with Maliwal's grievance.

"Trolling in social media is really atrocious. Everybody is affected...[even] Judges are trolled...we pass an order in favor of someone, the other side would troll the judge", remarked Justice Bhuyan.

At this point, Singhvi urged that even judges and lawyers are subjected to trolling when they deal with unpopular causes.

Suggesting that such remarks should be ignored, Justice Kant said, "Huge class of irresponsible people, unfortunately they have got an access to this platform. They are completely insensitive, irresponsible...they are not aware of their duties. They only think of some perceived rights and they will continue to attack all institutions. Except that, one has to ignore them. The more you [...], their credibility...".

Case Title: BIBHAV KUMAR Versus STATE OF NCT OF DELHI, SLP(Crl) No. 9817/2024