New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday 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 BS Chauhan and Justice Dipak Misra passed the order after hearing a plea by Shreya Singhal, who had petitioned the court against the arrest of an activist Jaya Vindhyalaya (since been 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 told it that police was arresting people on mere charges of posting comments on social media websites that caused inconvenience or annoyance.
The court's refusal to grant blanket order was on the prayer by which 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....
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04:20 AM, May 17, 2013
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said that no arrests could be made for objectionable comments on social networking websites without prior permission of senior police officers. The apex court, which refused to pass an order for a blanket ban on the arrest of a person for making objectionable comments on websites, said state governments should ensure strict compliance of the Centre's January 9 advisory which said that a...
12:24 PM, May 16, 2013
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea seeking to restrain government authorities from taking any coercive action against anyone for posting alleged objectionable comments on social networking sites. An application was filed before the apex court seeking its direction to the authorities not to take action for posting such comments during the pendency of a case before it pertaining to constitutional validity of section 66A...
01:01 PM, May 15, 2013
Hyderabad: A civil liberties lawyer, Jaya Vindyala, has been arrested under Section 66A of the IT Act for posting some comments on Facebook allegedly against former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Tamil Nadu Governor Rosaiah and an MLA A Krishna Mohan. The advocate, who is also a member of the People's Union for Civil Liberties, was arrested in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh. According to the police, local Congress MLA...
11:25 AM, May 13, 2013
Three persons have been arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in connection with the alleged online abuses and threats to the all-girls rock band, Pragaash. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, "I'm glad the police in Kashmir has identified and arrested people for the online threats made to the girls. I'm told more arrests are possible." ...
09:20 AM, Feb 07, 2013
The internet's a brave new world in so many ways-driven by the young invigorating the old. About 150 million Indians are on the web now. Earlier, to express ideas publicly, you had to go through a newspaper, magazine, TV or a radio station before. The guardians of media regulated how such ideas were expressed, and published your ideas if you were important enough, if you followed the outlet's editorial line,...
12:10 PM, Jan 11, 2013
Against the backdrop of some arrests over certain postings on social networking sites, Telecom and IT Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday said a provision in the Information Technology Act has been misused in some states and the Centre will soon issue an advisory to check it. "As per our assessment, there has been misuse (of Section 66A of IT Act) in some states...It is my personal opinion and also of...
12:30 AM, Dec 15, 2012
State-owned telecom firm BSNL's Website was hacked on Friday by a group that demanded withdrawal of section 66 A of the IT Act. The Website 'www.bsnl.co.in' was quickly restored. ...
01:28 PM, Dec 14, 2012
Two Air India employees, who were arrested earlier this year for allegedly posting messages criticising Supreme Court orders on Facebook, have now registered a complaint against a trade union member of the airline. Cabin crew members Mayank Sharma and KVJ Rao accused Sagar Karnik of misleading the police and maligning their reputation. ...
05:14 PM, Dec 01, 2012
Minister of State for Communication and IT, Milind Deora accepted misuse of the Information Technology (IT) Act and said that the government is open to making the law more objective to prevent further misuse in future. ...
07:40 AM, Dec 01, 2012
The SC asks Maharashtra to explain the FB arrests, but the Centre maintains there is no need to scrap the IT law. ...
10:41 PM, Nov 30, 2012
The SC issued notices to the Maharashtra government and other concerned states on why Section 66(A) should not be scrapped. ...
09:35 PM, Nov 30, 2012
The Supreme Court tells the government to clamp down on harassment of women with CCTV camera and harsh punishment. ...
09:32 PM, Nov 30, 2012
Delhi University student Shreya Singhal, who has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court challenging the Information Technology Act, has said that she filed the petition because she felt very strongly about the issue and felt outraged over the recent cases where arrests were made over Facebook posts. ...
06:42 PM, Nov 30, 2012
Cyber law expert Pawan Duggal has hailed the Supreme Court's intervention in the Palghar Facebook arrests case. ...
05:53 PM, Nov 30, 2012
The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Centre, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Delhi and Puducherry governments over the petition filed by a Delhi University student, Shreya Singhal, challenging the Information Technology Act. The court has asked Maharashtra to explain arrest of the two Palghar girls over Facebook comments on late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. ...
02:31 PM, Nov 30, 2012
The Supreme Court has admitted cartoonist Aseem Trivedi's plea against the controversial Section 66(A) of the Information Technology Act. Trivedi had been arrested in Mumbai in September on sedition charges for allegedly mocking the Constitution. He said the law is being misused to curb freedom. ...
01:18 PM, Nov 30, 2012
The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Centre, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Delhi and Puducherry governments over the petition filed by a Delhi University student challenging the Information Technology Act. The court has asked Maharashtra to explain arrest of the two Palghar girls over Facebook comments on late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. ...
11:46 AM, Nov 30, 2012
The Attorney General is expected to give his opinion to the Supreme Court on Friday on a petition challenging the controversial Section 66(A) of the Information Technology Act. This, even as politicians and cyber experts say the section should be re-written. The petition challenging the controversial Section 66(A) was filed by a Delhi University student. ...
07:48 AM, Nov 30, 2012
Government issues guidelines to prevent misuse of section 66(A) of the IT Act as the the demand for changing social media laws reach the Supreme Court. ...
09:49 PM, Nov 29, 2012
