Freedom to express: Supreme Court calls Section 66A of the IT Act unconstitutional

By NewsGram Staff Writer

In a remarkable judgement, Supreme Court has called Section 66A of the Information Technology act unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act holding it as a violation of Article 19(1)a of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech.

"Section 66A of the IT Act is struck down in its entirety…," said the apex court bench of Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman.

"Our Constitution provides for liberty of thought, expression and belief. In a democracy, these values have to be provided within constitutional scheme. The law (Section 66A) is vague in its entirety," said Justice Nariman pronouncing the judgment.

"There is no nexus between public order and discussion or causing annoyance by dissemination of information. Curbs under Section 66A of the IT Act infringes on the public right to know."

While some petitions have contended that the words, 'offensive' and 'menacing' in the Section are vague and can be misused to undermine the very foundation of democracy. On the other hand, the Government had claimed that the Section with its guidelines is a ' reasonable restriction' the right to speech and expression.

Earlier, under Section 66A, any person sending 'offensive' messages from a computer or any other communication device like phone, tablet, laptop could be jailed up to a period of three years.