The Supreme Court directed states and Union Territories (UTs) to immediately drop from all FIRs the charge under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act since the penal provision was declared unconstitutional by the court seven years ago.

A bench headed by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit directed no citizen can be prosecuted under section 66A of the IT Act, 2000.

Police and Public Order are State Subjects as per Constitution of India and prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes, and capacity building of police personnel is primary responsibility of states.

What was Section 66A about?

Section 66A was dealing with punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service. A person posting offensive messages could be imprisoned for up to three years and also fined.

Why was it scrapped?

• The first PIL on the issue was filed in 2012 by a law student Shreya Singhal who sought an amendment in Section 66A of the Act after two girls were arrested in Palghar in Maharashtra’s Thane district. While one had posted a comment against the shutdown in Mumbai following Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray’s death, the other had ‘liked’ it. 

• People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), an NGO, was also one of the petitioners in the earlier case and has challenged the constitutional validity of section 66A of IT Act. 

• Terming liberty of thought and expression “cardinal”, the Supreme Court on March 24, 2015 scrapped the provision saying that “the public’s right to know is directly affected by Section 66A of the Information Technology Act”.

• On January 7, 2019, while hearing the application of PUCL, the SC bench had observed that it is shocking that people are still being prosecuted under Section 66A of the IT Act even after it has been scrapped in 2015.

• On February 15, 2019, the top court had directed all state governments to sensitise their police personnel about its 2015 verdict which had scrapped Section 66A of Information Technology Act, so that people are not unnecessarily arrested under the struck down provision.

• It also asked all the High Courts to send the copy of the verdict to all the trial courts to avoid people being prosecuted under the scrapped provision which provided for jail term to people who posted offensive content online.

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