[BREAKING] Supreme Court issues notice to all States, Union Territories, High Courts on plea against continued use of Section 66A of IT Act

The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from all States and Union Territories regarding continued use of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act despite the top court striking down the provision in 2015.

. A Bench of Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman and BR Gavai also asked notice to be served on Registrar Generals of all High Courts.

The Court sought response from States after the Central government took the stand that the provision has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and it is upto the States to refrain from filing cases under the provision.

The Court was hearing a plea by NGO People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) seeking a direction to the Central government to advise all police stations against registering of FIRs under Section 66A, which was declared unconstitutional by the top court on March 24, 2015 in the case of Shreya Singhal v. Union of India .

. In an application filed through advocate Aparna Bhat, the organisation submitted that, Section 66A of the IT Act has continued to be in use not only within police stations but also in cases before trial courts across the country.

The plea cited findings of the Zombie Tracker Website to say that as on March 10, 2021, around 745 cases are still pending and active before the districts courts wherein accused are charged under Section 66 A of IT Act.

During the hearing of the case on July 5, the top court had expressed shock at cases being registered even after the provision was truck down.

"Amazing. What is going on is terrible," the Court had remarked while seeking response from the Central government.

Subsequently, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had, on July 14, issued a communication asking all States and Union Territories to withdraw all the cases registered under Section 66A T Act and not to "book" anyone under the said provision as it has been struck down by the Supreme Court by its judgment in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India .

. The plea before the Supreme Court prayed that the Centre be directed to collect all data on FIRs and cases registered under Section 66A pending before courts across the country. Also sought are directions to all the High Courts to ensure compliance with the judgment in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India .

PUCL also sought directions to the Union government to publish in all leading newspapers - both English and vernacular languages - informing the general public that Section 66A has been struck down and is no longer a law.

. The NGO had filed a similar plea in 2018 seeking compliance with the 2015 judgment.

. In February 15, 2019, Supreme Court disposed of the matter by directing that copies of the Shreya Singhal judgment be made available by every High Court in this country to all district courts.

The Centre was directed to make available copies of the judgment to Chief Secretaries of all state governments and union territories. The Chief Secretaries were, in turn, directed to sensitise the police departments by sending copies of the judgment to the Director-General of Police of each state.

[BREAKING] Supreme Court issues notice to all States, Union Territories, High Courts on plea against continued use of Section 66A of IT Act

Debayan Roy

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