Apar Gupta

Designation:

Executive Director of the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF)

Bio:

Apar is a lawyer and the Executive Director of the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF). The IFF is an Indian digital liberties organisation that seeks to ensure that technology respects fundamental rights.

Apar completed his post-graduate studies from the Columbia University School of Law and have practised for more than a decade. After graduation, he worked as a commercial litigator in top law firms such as Karanjawala & Co. and was a partner at Advani & Co. During this period he represented a diverse set of clients from India's top corporate groups, high net worth individuals and public sector units, even being retained as a counsel for the government of India in the High Court of Delhi. Apar continues to write op-eds and journal articles for Indian Express, The Hindu, IIC Quarterly and Seminar etc. and have written a book on the I.T. Act, 2000 published by LexisNexis.

From 2015, he has have been working extensively on public interest issues which include strategic litigation and organisation of campaigns and collectives. In courts, Apar's work as a lawyer includes key digital rights cases on privacy and censorship. He served as a counsel in key constitutional challenges on Section 66A, the Right to Privacy and Aadhaar, the Kashmir Internet Shutdown case representing public interest litigants. Beyond court work he has worked extensively with activists to set up digital campaigns such as those on Net Neutrality (SaveTheInternet.in), fight against defamation laws (SpeechBill.in) and safeguard privacy (SaveOurPrivacy.in). Apar is committed to advancing values of the Constitution of India in a digital, technology mediated society.

In 2020 he was inducted as an Ashoka Fellow for his work at IFF.