Bench of Justices RF Nariman and Vineet Sharan said, “It’s shocking that people are still being prosecuted for a provision which was scrapped by this court in 2015. If that is the case then we will send all those concerned officials to jail”.The Supreme Court on Monday expressed shock over reports that people were still being prosecuted under Section 66 A of Information Technology Act, which was scrapped by it in 2015.
Hearing a PIL filed by NGO People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a bench of Justices R F Nariman and Vineet Sharan said, “It’s shocking that people are still being prosecuted for a provision which was scrapped by this court in 2015. If that is the case then we will send all those concerned officials to jail”.
The top court issued notice to the Centre and sought its response in the matter within four weeks.
Advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for the petitioner, said more than 22 prosecutions had taken place under the provision after it was struck down.
The plea said that “from the existence of several quashing petitions filed before high courts, it is apparent that trial courts and prosecutors are not actively implementing the decision of this court, and the burden of terminating illegal prosecutions based on Section 66A of the IT Act is unfairly falling upon accused persons”. The PIL has urged the apex court to direct its registry to forward a copy of its judgment to all the high courts to pass appropriate orders in pending cases concerning Section 66A of the IT Act, as well as appropriate circulars to bring the verdict to the notice of all district courts within their jurisdiction.
