India’s Supreme Court has overruled a law which gave police the ability to arrest people for making controversial comments on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. The court ruled that section 66A of the Information Technology Act was unconstitutional. It comes after several people were arrested for posting comments on social media. The government said the law was put it place to deter people from uploading offensive content, but civil rights groups and a law student said it violated people’s fundamental right to freedom of speech.
Justice RF Nariman said “Section 66A is unconstitutional and we have no hesitation in striking it down”, adding “the public’s right to know is directly affected by section 66A. Section 66A meant that people could be sent to jail for three years for posting an email or message that “causes annoyance or inconvenience”.
The law was challenged after two young women were arrested over comments about the death of politician Bal Thackeray. Since this event, a number of other arrests have occurred, with a teenage student being arrested for criticizing state minister Azam Khan on Facebook. The ruling has been met with praise by Indians; with the hashtag #sec66A trending on Twitter minutes after the decision was announced.
