Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that ‘Section 66A arbitrarily, excessively and disproportionately invades the right of free speech and upsets the balance between such right and the reasonable restrictions that may be imposed on such right.’ The Supreme Court upheld that Section 66A of the Information Technology Act is unconstitutional in its entirety.
Section 66A reads: “Any person who sends by any means of a computer resource any information that is grossly offensive or has a menacing character; or any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and with fine.”
Read the ruling here.
For further information, please contact:
Sanjay Israni, Partner, Rajani Singhania & Partners
sanjay.israni@rsplaw.in
