The Supreme Court’s decision strike down Section 66(A) of Information Technology Act has come as a relief for a Mangalure-based student leader who had circulated a caricature ridiculing Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the New Delhi Elections and faced a criminal case.
The caricature intended to show that Delhi Chef Minister Arvind Kejriwal had conquered Mr. Modi by depicting the former as hunter and the latter as hunted.
Jeevan Raj Kuthar, the State Secretary of Students Federation of India, who had received this on his mobile phone had forwarded it to many, and one of the recipients – a BJP activist – filed a complaint against him. Invoking the section, the Ullal police had booked a case and Mr. Kuthar had obtained an anticipatory bail.
A relieved Mr. Kuthar said the Court “has rightly termed this provision unconstitutional as it impinges on person’s right of expression”, he said.
Mr. Kuthar said booking him under Section 66(A) for forwarding the image on WhatsApp had come as a surprise to him. Mangaluru BJP secretary Dayanand Thokkottu had filed a complaint against him on February 13.
“I did not create that image but I just forwarded it. If I am an accused for forwarding the message, many others too should have been facing the charge,” he said. Mr. Kuthar said he will seek dismissal of the case against him if the police did not take it back.
A senior prosecutor said that if a person has been accused only under Section 66(A) of the IT Act then the police have to file a report that they do not have any case. If the police had invoked sections of the Indian Penal Code then those cases will continue, he said. In Mr. Kuthar’s case no other sections have been invoked.