Supreme Courst Upholds Online Free Speech

Indian Polity Fundamental Rights

Published on: 25-Mar-15
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The Supreme Court has struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act 2000 that had empowered the police to arrest persons for posting offensive information on the Internet, including social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, that could cause enmity, hatred and a host of other law and order problems.

A Bench comprising Justices J Chelameswar and RF Nariman ruled that "it is clear that Section 66A arbitrarily, excessively and disproportionately invades the right of free speech" guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution.

"As Section 66A severely curtails information that may be sent on the Internet based on whether it is grossly offensive, annoying, inconvenient...is declared as unconstitutional in its entirety,” the bench said in its 123-page judgment in a batch of PIL cases filed by social activists and organizations, lawyers and other individuals.

Section 66A, IT Act

Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device, any information that is grossly offensive or false to annoy, insult, intimidate or deceive the recipient can be punished with imprisonment for a term that may extend to three years and with fine
Section 66A, which was inserted in the IT Act in 2009 in the form of an amendment, also had a provision for punishing the offenders with a maximum jail term of three years, besides fine.

SOME CONTROVERSIAL CASES:

March 19, 2015: UP Police arrest Class-XI student Vicky Khan in Rampur for making offensive remarks against Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan on Facebook
April 12, 2012: Jadavpur varsity professor Ambikesh Mahapatra held for circulating on the Net a cartoon ridiculing Mamata Banerjee
The detention of two girls, Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Shrinivasan, in Thane district of Maharashtra for posting a comment against the shutdown in Mumbai following Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray’s death.

SC On Tech Act:

Invades right to freedom of speech and expression
Has scope for misuse as its provisions are vague
If upheld, its chilling effect on free speech will be total
Authorities can, however, get such contents blocked

In a season of bans and diktats asking people to shut up, the country's highest court has upheld the right to speak up. Section 66A of the Information Technology Act — that prescribed punishment for sending “offensive” messages through any communication device — has been scrapped. It was bad in law, the petitioners convinced the Supreme Court, and misused because it was framed in a vague and sweeping language that allowed subjective interpretation. The right to freedom of speech on the Internet has been upheld. Nobody can be arrested for any online post or get content removed without a court or judicial order. The IT Act was enacted in 2000 for the delivery of government services through reliable electronic records. Eight years later, an amendment was hurriedly passed to strengthen penal provisions for preventing the misuse of the Internet. In 2013, the SC came out with an advisory that a person accused of posting objectionable comments could not be arrested without permission of senior officers. The question before it was to retain the law with guidelines or repeal it. It ruled that the public's right to know was affected by the unconstitutional Section 66A. Like the UPA, the NDA favoured the law, saying it was necessary to regulate online content. Its unchecked flow remains a challenge. While the IPC is equipped to deal with the posting of pictures and comments that hurt religious sentiments, a well deliberated legislation that does not encroach on civil liberties would be the next logical step.

By: Vishal

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