Withdraw all cases under Section 66A of IT Act, MHA to states

The Union home ministry has asked state governments and police chiefs to immediately withdraw cases registered under the repealed Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act and to stop registering such cases. The move came days after the Supreme Court expressed shock over the continued registration of cases under the repealed Section. In its advisory sent to the chief secretaries and director generals of police, the ministry said on Wednesday: “It has been brought to our notice through an application in the Supreme Court that FIRs are still being lodged by some police authorities under the struck down provision of Section 66A of the IT Act, 2000. Hon’ble Supreme Court has taken a very serious view of the matter.

The ministry said it is therefore requested to direct all the police stations not to register cases under the repealed Section 66A of the IT Act and sensitise the law enforcement agencies for the compliance of the Supreme Court order and withdraw such cases “If any case has been booked in your state under Section 66A of the IT Act, it should immediately be withdrawn.” The Supreme Court on March 24, 2015, struck down a much-abused Section, which authorised police to arrest people for social media posts construed to be “offensive” or “menacing”. The NGO People’s Union for Civil Liberties informed the court this month that 229 such cases were pending in 11 states. After the provision was repealed, police in these states lodged 1,307 new cases under it.