[bestbits] Fwd: [ISOC] [Internet Policy] Misuse of : section 66 A IT act of Indian government

Wed Mar 25 21:36:13 EDT 2015

Congratulations to Indian colleagues and comrades...People here at RightsCon in Manila are elated about this and I am sure this development will be discussed here today some time in the programme... 
I was told by friends here that probably every significant Indian NGO and digital rights advocate has in some way assisted the lawyers in this significant victory

Al Alegre

  On Wednesday, March 25, 2015 5:17 AM, Mishi Choudhary <mishi at softwarefreedom.org> wrote:

  This is truly a  landmark judgment, very glad to have been one of the lawyers assisting the court on these cases.

 On 03/24/2015 11:06 AM, Carolina Rossini wrote:

 ---------- Forwarded message ----------
 From: anubhuti yadav <anubhutiy at gmail.com>
 Date: Tue, Mar 24, 2015 at 2:49 AM
 Subject: Re: [ISOC] [Internet Policy] Misuse of : section 66 A IT act of Indian government
 To: Krishna Kumar <krznakumar at gmail.com>
 Cc: "isoc-members-announce at elists.isoc.org" <isoc-members-announce at elists.isoc.org>, isocconnect at isoc.org, "internetpolicy at elists.isoc.org" <internetpolicy at elists.isoc.org>, "<inforum at isoc.org>" <inforum at isoc.org>

  In a landmark judgment, Supreme Court has struck down Section 66A  of the IT Act. In their order, the court said, Section 66A is violative of Article 19(1)(a), not saved by Article 19(2), hence unconstitutional.  The division bench said  public's right to know is directly affected by Section 66A of Information Technology Act.  The apex court also said Section 66A of IT Act clearly affects Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression enshrined under Constitution. SC, however, refused to strike down two other provisions of the IT Act that provide blocking of sites.  Thr Court said there is a difference between discussion, advocacy and incitement.Discussion & advocacy, no matter how annoying, is allowed said the division bench in it's judgment. Court while delivering the verdict said liberty and liberty of thought is of paramount importance in a country like India 11:37 ISTTuesday, 24 March 2015 Former Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tiwary has welcomed the judgment. He said that the law was misused too often and hence it needed to go. 11:26 ISTTuesday, 24 March 2015  Rinu Srinivasan, one of the girls who was arrested under the section for a Facebook post on Bal Thackeray welcome the decision of Supreme Court. She said, "If this law is repealed it may encourage people to speak up and against all the wrong in the world".  "I am very happy. I feel like we have received justice after two years," she said. ...................................................... A bench of justices J Chelameswar and R F Nariman had on February 26 reserved its judgement after Government concluded its arguments contending that section 66A of the Information Technology Act cannot be "quashed" merely because of the possibility of its "abuse". Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said that the Government did not want to curtail the freedom of speech and expression at all which is enshrined in the Constitution, but the vast cyber world could not be allowed to remain unregulated. However, the court had said that terms like 'illegal', 'grossly offensive' and 'menacing character' were vague expressions and these words were likely to be misunderstood and abused. Some of the petitions seek setting aside of section 66A of the Information Technology Act which empowers police to arrest a person for allegedly posting offensive materials on social networking sites. The first PIL on the issue was filed in 2012 by a law student Shreya Singhal, who sought amendment in Section 66A of the Act, after two girls -- Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Shrinivasan -- were arrested in Palghar in Thane district as one of them posted a comment against the shutdown in Mumbai  following Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray's death and the other 'liked' it. The apex court had on May 16, 2013, come out with an advisory that a person, accused of posting objectionable comments on social networking sites, cannot be arrested without police getting permission from senior officers like IG or DCP. The direction had come in the wake of numerous complaints of harassment and arrests, sparking public outrage. It had, however, refused to pass an interim order for a blanket ban on the arrest of such persons across the country. source: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-live-supreme-court-strikes-down-section-66a-of-it-act-2071523  
 On Tue, Mar 24, 2015 at 11:34 AM, Krishna Kumar <krznakumar at gmail.com> wrote:

  Hello, 
  This news should offer some hope! :)  
  Striking down any attempt at curbing the freedom of expression on the internet, the Supreme Court today ruled that Section 66A of the IT Act is "unconstitutional". 

  http://www.thenewsminute.com/news_sections/3358 

   Best Regards,

 Krishna Kumar 
 Secretary - Internet Society India Chennai 
 Mail: krznakumar at gmail.com
 Mobile: +91 97905 23076
 Skype: rkrzna   
   On Mon, Mar 23, 2015 at 3:10 PM, srajukanumuri <srajukanumuri at gmail.com> wrote:

     Dear Members ,

     One option we can have as all ISOC global chapters members or ISOC , internet policy board can have common  letter addressed to Indian PM, HMO and supreme court Judges who are dealing this case. International human rights can also
 address this issue.  THE TSHWANE PRINCIPLES : GLOBAL PRINCIPLES ON NATIONAL SECURITY AND THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION addressed this issue. During IGF and Netmundial we must address this issue as serious matter for all open
  internet citizens of world. Under ISOC , Internet policy or IGF if we create a global team or  List serve to help citizens of world
  who are facing problems with lousy laws. 

  Kanumuri s raju

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Warm Regards
Mishi Choudhary, Esq.
Legal Director
Software Freedom Law Center
1995 Broadway Floor 17
New York, NY-10023
(tel) 212-461-1912
(fax) 212-580-0898
www.softwarefreedom.org

Executive Director 
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(tel) +91-11-43587126 
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