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 of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
The section states that any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or communication device, any information that was grossly offensive or has a menacing character could be punished with imprisonment for a maximum term of three years, besides imposition of appropriate fine. A bench of justices BS Chauhan and Dipak Misra will also hear the plea for release of Hyderabad-based woman activist who was arrested and sent to jail over her Facebook post in which certain "objectionable" comments were made against Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah and Congress MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan.
Jaya Vindhayal, the state general secretary of People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), was remanded on May 13 in judicial custody for 12 days following her arrest the previous day under section 66A of the IT Act for the "objectionable" post. According to the police, she had also allegedly distributed pamphlets making objectionable allegations against Rosaiah and Mohan before posting the comments online.
The matter was mentioned before the bench by law student Shreya Singhal,
01:01 PM, May 15, 2013
A Palghar court has closed the case against the two girls - Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Srinivasan - who were arrested for posting a comment on Facebook on the bandh after the death of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on November 17, 2012. ...
02:00 PM, Feb 01, 2013
The controversial section 66A of the Information Technology Act does not infringe on freedom of speech - that's what the Centre and the Maharashtra government told the Supreme Court in their affidavits on the Bal Thackeray Facebook post controversy on Thursday. ...
10:09 PM, Jan 10, 2013
Police on Tuesday dropped all charges against two girls from Palghar whose arrest over a Facebook post criticising shutdown in Mumbai during Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's funeral in November had sparked an uproar. ...
09:07 PM, Dec 18, 2012
A closure report has been filed in the Palghar Facebook case in which two girls were arrested for posting comments about the bandh imposed after Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's death. ...
07:16 PM, Dec 18, 2012
The Palghar girls who were at the centre of a controversy related to their Facebook post after Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's death, have been invited by the prestigious IIM-Ahmedabad to interact with students. ...
08:10 PM, Dec 13, 2012
The Maharashtra government will provide protection to the Palghar girl, who was arrested for a Facebook post on late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, and her family. While the Prithviraj Chavan government is claiming of providing security to them, the girl and her family have shifted to Gujarat. ...
12:21 PM, Dec 04, 2012
The girl from Palghar in Thane district of Maharashtra, who was arrested for a Facebook post on the bandh-like situation in Mumbai following the death of Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray's death, has fled from the state along with her family. The girl and her family, fearing a backlash by the Shiv Sena, have taken shelter in Gujarat. ...
01:06 PM, Dec 03, 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
Watch today's top stories with CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai. ...
11:17 PM, Nov 30, 2012
In yet another case emerging from Palghar town in the district, police have received a complaint about some "objectionable" matter relating to late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray posted on a "fake" Facebook account of a local newspaper. Mohammed Hussain Nadi Sarwar Khan (30), editor of "Palghar Mirror", a fortnightly newspaper in Hindi and Marathi, complained that a fake Facebook account had been opened in his newspaper's name and objectionable...
08:42 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 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
A youth on Wednesday was detained for allegedly posting defamatory comments about Raj Thackeray. ...
08:32 PM, Nov 29, 2012
The DGP has hinted at dropping charges against the two Palghar girls who were arrested and released over a Facebook post on late Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. The DGP has said that the police will file a closure report if the Facebook post didn't warrant penal provisions. A report submitted by the IG of Konkan said the charges against the girls were unjustified. ...
12:16 PM, Nov 29, 2012
In another Facebook row in Palghar, a 19-year-old boy has spoken out after his Facebook account was allegedly hacked and used to abuse Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray. The boy maintains that he never wrote the controversial post but believes it was written to create enmity in Palghar where a large number of North Indians live. ...
11:35 AM, Nov 29, 2012
A Delhi student has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court challenging Section 66(A) of the Information Technology Act which was invoked to arrest two girls in Palghar, Maharashtra after they posted comments on bandh called after Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's demise. ...
11:19 AM, Nov 29, 2012
The Shiv Sena has called for bandh in Palghar on Wednesday to protest against the action on the policemen in the Facebook arrest case. The Thane Superintendent of Police and Palghar police station Sub-Inspector were suspended on Tuesday for disobeying the orders of superiors while arresting two girls for a Facebook post on Sena chief Bal Thackeray. ...
08:53 AM, Nov 28, 2012
