SC scraps draconian Sec 66 A of IT Act that allows jail for offensive posts

March 24, 2015 10:49

Just in: In what is the first ever verdict in India on the right to freedom of speech on the Internet, Justices J Chelameswar and Rohinton F Nariman have scrapped Section 66 A of the IT Act. The court said that 66 A cannot be properly implemented as governments come and go.

The law allows police to make arrests over "offensive' social posts. Section 66A prescribes the punishment for sending "offensive' messages through computers or any other communication device such as a mobile phone or a tablet, and a conviction can fetch a maximum of three years in jail.

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