In News
- Recently, the Supreme Court directed that no person should be prosecuted under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which has been struck down.
Key Points
- Court’s Stand:
- The SC ordered not to register any complaint with respect to violation of Section 66A.
- It said that in all cases where citizens are facing prosecution for violations of Section 66A, the reference and reliance upon 66A shall stand deleted.
- Section 66A was held unconstitutional by the court in the Shreya Singhal case in 2015.
- About Section 66A of IT Act:
- Introduced in 2008 by the amendments to the IT Act, 2000
- It provided the government with power to arrest and imprison an individual for allegedly “offensive and menacing” online posts.
- Punishment: It prescribed that a conviction could fetch a maximum of three years in jail.
- Shreya Singhal vs. Union of India: In 2015, the SC struck down the law calling it open-ended and unconstitutionally vague, and thus expanded the contours of free speech to the Internet.
Source: IE
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