Chidambaram welcomes Section 66 A ruling, says it was misused

Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

Former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday welcomed the judgement of the Supreme Court holding that Section 66 A of the Information and Technology Act is unconstitutional.

In a statement, Mr. >Chidambaram said: “The Section was poorly drafted and was vulnerable. It was capable of being misused and, in fact, it was misused.”

The response came hours after the Supreme Court struck down Section 66 A of the Information and Technology Act, which allows police to arrest people on the basis of what they post on the internet.

“There could be a case of misuse of the freedom of speech. In such cases, the ordinary laws should apply and the offender should be dealt with under those laws…. If some provisions of the law have to be strengthened, that could be considered.…But Section 66A was not the answer,” Mr. Chidambaram said.

Section 66A provides punishment for sending offensive messages through communication services. > Read more Section 66A certainly does not engage in the balancing required to pursue the objective of preventing criminal intimidation and danger on social media. > Read more What the outcry over Section 66A of the IT Act misses is the need for a mechanism to prevent arrests on flimsy interpretations of criminal law provisions. > Read more

All you need to know about Sec 66A

Saving free speech from the police

“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever.” > Read more

Like it or not, comment is not free

Here are some of the views posted by Facebook users, most of whom seemed to feel 66A curbs free speech rather than genuinely fight cyber crime. > Read more

Does Section 66A curb or safeguard social media?