SC criticizes govt. for failing to prevent arrests under a scrapped IT law

The government has come under criticism from the Supreme Court for not preventing arrests under a scrapped section of the IT law that deals with cyber crime and e-commerce. The SC warned that those who ordered the arrests would be jailed.

The top court in 2015 had struck down Section 66(A) of the Information Technology Act, calling it "vague" and "unconstitutional". Non-profit group People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said in its petition that over 22 people have been prosecuted under the scrapped Section 66(A) of the IT Act.

"We are going to take strict action," the Supreme Court said, and warned that the officials who ordered the arrests under Section 66(A) will be "sent to jail". The top court bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and Vineet Saran said it is "shocking if true" that people were arrested under Section 66(A) that was declared "unconstitutional".

The government has been given four weeks to reply.

The IT Act was passed in 2000, but it was only in 2008 that Section 66(A) was inserted via an amendment.

Before it was scrapped, the controversial Section 66(A) of the IT Act was long decried by activists, freedom of speech and internet freedom campaigners as being aimed solely at muzzling dissent and differences of opinion on the internet.

The contention by most of the petitioners before 2015 was that Section 66(A) was vague and allowed the police arbitrary interpretation and misuse of the law.

Some of the arrests that led to a huge debate in the country before Section 66(A) was scrapped include cartoonist Aseem Trivedi, whose illustrations in 2012 on the theme of corruption were seen as offensive. That same year, a professor from Jadavpur University, Ambikesh Mahapatra, was arrested for emailing cartoons lampooning Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.