Recently, the Supreme Court expressed displeasure when the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) informed it through a PIL that the police was still registering FIRs under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. This Section was declared unconstitutional in 2015 in Shreya Singhal vs Union of India.
The petitioner told the Court that several people were facing trials in different district courts in the country. “Amazing. That is all what I can say. Shreya Singhal is a 2015 judgment. What is going on is terrible,” observed Justice RF Nariman, who was heading the three-judge bench hearing the petition. The bench issued a notice to the government and asked it to file its reply. Section 66A provides punishment for sending offensive messages through a computer or any other communication device like a mobile phone or a tablet. If found guilty and convicted under this provision, a person can be given a maximum of three years’ sentence and fine. Several persons have been arrested under this Section and ultimately, the issue of its constitutional validity reached the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal vs Union of India (2015). The Court had then declared it unconstitutional and struck it down.
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