Apex Court Strikes Down Section 66A Of IT Act Terming Unconstitutional

24 March, New Delhi

In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court Tuesday struck down the Section 66A of the Information Technology Act calling it unconstitutional and untenable. The court said it interferes with freedom of speech and expression enshrined in the Constitution.

Terming liberty of thought and expression as cardinal, a bench of justices J Chelameswar and R F Nariman said, the public’s right to know is directly affected by section 66A which gives the police power to arrest a person for posting offensive content online and provides for a three-year jail term.

Elaborating the grounds for holding the provision as unconstitutional, the court said terms like “annoying”,”inconvenient” and “grossly offensive”, used in the provision are vague as it is difficult for the law enforcement agency and the offender to know the ingredients of the offence. It said what may be offensive to a person, may not be offensive to others.

The apex court pronounced its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging constitutional validity of certain sections of the Information Technology Act.

The first PIL on the issue was filed in 2012 by law student Shreya Singhal. She had challenged the Section after two young women were arrested that year for posting comments against the shutdown in Mumbai after the death of then Shiv Sena Chief, Bal Thackeray.

The Centre had defended the Section 66A, saying the possibility of its potential abuse cannot be a ground for declaring it unconstitutional.