The end of 66A
Regarded as the greatest writer in the English language William Shakespeare could have been arrested if he had tweeted his lines from Henry VI i.e. “Let’s kill all the lawyers”. The line could have been considered to have been ‘Anti-Social’ and causing ‘Social Annoyance’. The arrest would have been on the grounds of article 66A of the Information and Technology (IT) Act. It’s moronic to think that a simple sentence could land you up in jail. The law is open to various interpretation which is really at the mercy of the subject’s prejudice.
Sighting the same, the Supreme Court of India struck down the Section 66A which allowed arrests for ‘offensive post on social networking sites. Supreme Court says, “Governments come and go, cannot act on assurance that Section 66A won’t be misused.”
The law came into controversies in recent times when police jailed young students for their ‘offensive messages’ on social media. Two young girls were arrested in Maharashtra when they posted a message which questioned the bandh in Mumbai when Shiv Sena Supreme Bala Saheb Thakrey died. Shiv Sena workers created havoc on the girls house and dragged them to police station. Ever since that, the law has been misused by the higher authorities. Recently, a student was arrested over a Facebook post attributed to Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan.
In the past former HRD minister Mr. Kapil Sibbal also advocated scrapping of the Section. He sighted the open interpretation of the law as an inconvenience to the general public and could be abused by higher authorities.
