New Delhi: The Supreme Court yesterday said no person would be arrested under Section 66A of the IT Act for posting objectionable comments on social networking websites without prior approval from an officer not below the rank of inspector general of police.
A vacation bench of Justice B S Chauhan and Justice Dipak Misra passed the order after hearing a plea by Shreya Singhal, who had petitioned the court against the arrest of activist Jaya Vindhyalaya (since released) under provisions of the IT Act on a complaint filed by an Andhra Pradesh lawmaker
However, the court said that it “can’t grant such blanket orders” as senior counsel Soli Sorabjee had told it that police were arresting people on mere charges of posting comments on social media websites that had caused inconvenience or annoyance.
The petitioner had sought to restrain police from initiating “any coercive steps on the basis of Section 66A of the IT Act” till court pronounces its verdict on the matter pending before it.
Justice Misra said the said provision of IT Act had not been stayed by the court.
The court’s order restraining the police from arresting a person for committing an offence under Section 66 A of the IT Act came after Additional Solicitor General Siddharth Luthra informed the court that the central government had issued an advisory to the states on January 9 this year on procedure to be followed before police acted on complaints filed under this provision.
Initially, the court had asked Luthra as to why the central government was not ensuring compliance with its advisory
“We (centre) can’t do it. The law and order is a state subject,” he replied.
At this, the court directed the states to ensure compliance with the advisory and directed that the copies of its order be sent to the state governments.
IANS
