No citizen can be prosecuted Under Section 66A of the IT Act
On October 12, 2022, the Supreme Court has directed that no citizen can be prosecuted Under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which was struck down by the Court in 2015 in the Shreya Singhal case. Under the repealed section, a person posting objectionable material can be jailed for up to three years and also fined.
The apex court had on March 24, 2015 removed the provision, holding that the public's right to know is directly affected by section 66A of the Information Technology Act.
Section 66A
It empowered the police to make arrests in the sense that the policemen at their discretion can define 'offensive' or 'dangerous' or obstruction, inconvenience etc. It has prescribed punishment for sending messages through a computer or any other communication device such as a mobile phone or tablet, with a maximum jail term of three years to the guilty.
