SC asks States to respond to plea that says citizens are still being booked under Section 66A of IT Act

‘The cooperation of the States was necessary to put the brakes on the police from registering FIRs under Section 66A,’ says Bench.

The Supreme Court on Monday asked States to respond to a petition that citizens continue to get booked and prosecuted under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act for expressing themselves freely on social media. Section 66A was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in a judgment in 2015. A Bench led by Justice Rohinton F. Nariman said State governments, which control the police force, had to answer for this violation of the Supreme Court judgment. The Supreme Court said the judiciary could be reined in from wrongly charging under Section 66A, but the cooperation of the States was necessary to put the brakes on the police from registering FIRs under Section 66A. The court said it intended to pass a wholistic order after hearing the States. The court listed the case after four weeks. On July 5 this year, Justice Nariman had found it “distressing”, “shocking” and “terrible” that people were still booked and tried under Section 66A even six years after the Supreme Court struck down the provision as unconstitutional and a violation of free speech.