20-07-2021 | 17:17 PM
Section 66A of the IT Act
• The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Centre on the use of Section 66A of the IT Act that was scrapped several years ago and said that it is shocking that the judgment striking down the law has not been implemented even now.
Key Points:
• Section 66A defines the punishment for sending “offensive” messages through a computer or any other communication device like a mobile phone or a tablet. A conviction can fetch a maximum of three years in jail and a fine.
• It had prescribed three years’ imprisonment if a social media message caused “annoyance” or was found “grossly offensive”.
• The court, in the Shreya Singhal judgment authored by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman in March 2015, had concluded that the provision was vague and worded arbitrarily.
Concerns:
• The SC had noted that Section 66A arbitrarily, excessively and disproportionately invades the right of free speech, under article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution, and upsets the balance between such right and the reasonable restrictions that may be imposed on such right and the definition of offences under the provision was open-ended and undefined.
• The court also said that the provision used expressions “completely open-ended and undefined” and every expression used was “nebulous” in meaning.
