Shivani Pandey –
Published on: August 2, 2021, at 10:00 AM
The Central Government has informed the Supreme Court that it is the duty of States and Union Territories to put a hold on registering cases under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act after the provision was quashed by the Apex Court in 2015.
Earlier this month, the Apex Court said it was “shocking” and “distressing” that there was a fivefold increase in the filing of cases under Section 66A through the provision was done away with.
Based on inputs from the Ministry of Home Affairs and the IT Ministry, the Centre said: “The law enforcement agencies take legal action as per provisions of law against Cyber Crime offenders. Accordingly, (it is) the LEAs’ equal responsibility to comply with the said judgment/order by Hon’ble Supreme Court.”
The affidavit was filed days after the bench, headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman, took strong exception to the fact that there was a fivefold increase in registration of cases under Section 66A after the provision was held to be “unconstitutional” and “void” by the Court.
The application by NGO People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) revealed that there were 229 cases pending in 11 states when the Supreme Court in March 2015 struck down the much-abused Section 66A of the IT Act, which allowed police to arrest people for social media posts construed “offensive” or “menacing”. After the law was quashed, the Police in these states went on to lodge 1,307 new cases under the same provision.
Taking up the petition, the bench was led by Justice Nariman, who had authored the March 24, 2015 judgment in the Shreya Singhal case striking down Section 66A.
“What is going on is terrible and distressing. How could the provision be invoked by police even six years after the Supreme Court had struck it down?”
Shocking is the right word to use, Justice Nariman had said and asked the Union government to file a reply to the plea by PUCL, which appealed the court to direct the Centre to collect data about all Cases registered by the police and pending trial under Section 66A and send a communication to all trial courts and DGPs to shut down the cases.
Read more: Supreme Court issues notice to centre for continued use of section 66A of IT Act in plea by PUCL