SEC 66A: SC FOR MORE AWARENESS

NEWDELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered all high courts to make available a copy of its March 2015 judgment striking down section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act to all district courts so that magistrates don’t take up any new criminal case registered under the scrapped section.

The order came from a bench of justices RF Nariman and Sanjay Kishan Kaul after they saw an affidavit filed by the Centre in response to a petition by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), complaining that fresh prosecutions continue to take place under the section.

In 2015, the Supreme Court struck down the controversial Section 66A of the IT Act that made posting “offensive” comments online a crime punishable by jail.