New Delhi, Sep 6 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed concerns about the fact that Section 66A of the Information Technology Act was still being used, even though it was declared constitutionally unconstitutional in 2015.Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh, who represents the petitioner’s NGO People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) stated that there was a ruling in Shreya Singhal case in 2015, but there are numerous police officers and public prosecutors who are able to charge people under Section 66A, which is the reason why the petition was submitted.
A bench comprised of Chief Justice U.U.Lalit and comprised of Justice S.Ravindra Bhat counsel for the Centre to convince government officials in the states against the use of the law.
Parikh claimed Attorney General K.K.Venugopal was present last time and an order was sent to the states and the Central government.”The outcomes were shocking.We have created an analysis chart,” said Parikh, giving the details of the cases that were filed pursuant to Section 66A of the IT Act after the judgment in Shreya Singhal.
The Chief Justice stated that there must be a mechanism in place to investigate this issue.He asked Parikh what he suggest.
The bench also asked Parikh whether there was a conviction? “Is it 66A alone or are there other provisions?”
Parikh said that when the FIR is filed the Section 66A charge is made.
The court’s top judge was informed by a counsel the directions have been issued to police stations that all cases involving Section 66A must be dismissed.The counsel for the Centre said: “We have been telling all states about the Shreya Singhal verdict.”
Section 66A allowed the it possible to send of offensive messages via computers with the intention of inflicting irritation insecurity, inconvenience obstruction of justice, injury, criminal intimidation hatred, enmity, or ill will as a an offense punishable by with up to 3 years of imprisonment and with fines.
The Supreme Court said it was an issue of grave concern that despite the authoritative ruling, the offenses are still being recorded.
It issued a notice to the state governments as well as the high courts.The court requested the Central government to request Chief Secretaries to implement remedial measures as soon as is possible.
The Supreme Court will be able to schedule the case for further discussion within three weeks.
The NGO had approached the highest court to request directions to the Centre to inform all police stations to avoid filing FIRs under Sections 66A.
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