Supreme Court asks Chief Secretaries of States to take remedial measures against continued use of Section 66A

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked chief secretaries of all State to take remedial measures to tackle the continued use of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act which the top court had struck down as unconstitutional in 2014..A bench headed by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit directed the Central government to get in touch with the chief secretaries of those States where offences are being registered or pending so that the chief secretaries take remedial measures."We direct advocate Zoheb Hossain for Central government to get in touch with concerned Chief Secretaries of respective states where offences are being registered or pending so that the Chief Secretaries take remedial measures. Mr Hossain shall be rendered due assistance by the concerned learned advocates appearing for the States. Mr Hossain can write to Chief Secretaries to communicate and the concerned advocates to submit detailed affidavit on steps taken," the Court directed..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..When the case was heard on August 2, the Court had sought responses from all States and Union Territories regarding the issue raised in the plea.When the matter came up for hearing today, Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for the petitioner, sought to highlight the continued use of the provision."The results which have come out from the states is really shocking. Please see reply from states which shows the gravity of the situation. If SC judgment is not implemented then what happens to rule of law. Jharkhand says 40 case sunder 66A pending before courts, Madhya Pradesh took cognizance of 145 cases, case pending is 113," he said..Advocate Hossain for Centre said that the government has communicated the judgment to all the Chief Secretaries of States. "The grievance of the petitioner is non implementation of Shreya Singhal judgment," the Court said.The Court then proceeded to record the same in the order and asked the Centre to get in touch with States to take remedial action. "It is a matter of serious concern that despite authoritative pronouncement, the offences are still being registered and continued," the Court said in its order.