It is shocking. We will issue notice: Supreme Court on Continued Use of Scrapped Section 66A of IT Act

 

A bench of Justices RF Nariman, KM Joseph and BR Gavai issued notice in a plea by an NGO - the People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) - seeking directions to the centre to advise all police stations against registering FIRs under this law, as more than 1,000 cases have been filed invoking Section 66A of the IT Act despite it being struck down seven years ago. "It is shocking. We will issue notice," the bench said. "Amazing. What is going on is terrible.” Justice Nariman added.

Section 66A of Information Technology Act that allowed authorities to arrest individuals for posting "offensive" content online was struck down by the Supreme Court in March 2015. There have been many instances in which police have used this section to arrest people for posting critical comments on social networking sites about social and political issues and political leaders.

Sanjay Parikh, senior advocate for PUCL, stated that 687 cases were filed under Section 66A before it was struck down. Parikh said around 1307 cases are pending since the section was struck down.

AG K K Venugopal said the Acts published after striking down of Sec 66A still contained the provision with a small footnote that says the SC has struck down the Section. "It is shocking, distressing and amazing that police across the country are still registering cases under Section 66A of Information Technology Act", the bench said.