'Shocking, Terrible': SC Seeks Centre's Response Over Filing Cases Under Scrapped Sec 66A Of IT Act

Section 66A of the IT Act was struck down by the Supreme Court seven years ago on March 24, 2015, in a landmark judgement after it was first challenged by a law student named Shreya Singhal. 

Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday expressed shock upon learning that over 1,000 cases had been filed under Section 66A of the IT Act despite the fact that the law was struck down seven years ago. 

The Bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman, KM Joseph and BR Gavai were hearing a plea by an NGO - the People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) - seeking directions to the centre to advise all police stations against registering FIRs under this law. 

Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Sanjay Parikh told the court that even after the provision was struck down, over thousands of cases have been filed across the country. 

In response to this, Attorney General KK Venugopal appearing for the Govt of India told that Supreme Court that Section 66A is still there. 

"Even if it is struck down by the Division Bench, Section 66A is still there. When police has to register a case, the Section is still there and only has a footnote that the Supreme Court has struck it down. There has to be a bracket in 66A with words 'struck down'," Venugopal said, as reported by Bar and Bench. 

After hearing the arguments, the top court bench expressed displearure over the act and said, "Amazing. What is going on is terrible." The bench asked the Central Government to file a response within two weeks.

It is to be noted that the Section 66A of the IT Act - a controversial law that allowed police to arrest people for posting "offensive" content online, was struck down by the Supreme Court seven years ago on March 24, 2015, in a landmark judgement after it was first challenged by a law student named Shreya Singhal.