Supreme Court of India Declared Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 Unconstitutional
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Vol: 23| No. 4 | April 2015 | R20 www.opinionexpress.in A MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE COVER STORY RIGHT TO EXPRESS Supreme Court of India declared Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 unconstitutional editorial Supreme Court RNI UP–ENG 70032/92, Volume 23, No 4 EDITOR PRASHANT TEWARI upholds right to ASSOSIATE EDITOR DR RAHUL MISRA POLITICAL EDITOR free speech PRAKHAR MISRA BUREAU CHIEF he Supreme Court has struck down a sweeping law that allowed police to jail GOPAL CHOPRA (DELHI), VEELAAS KENJALE people for online posts thought to be offensive, with potentially far-reaching (MUMBAI), SOUMEN ACHARYA (KOLKATA), consequences for civil liberties and the right to free speech in India. After LAKSHMI DEVI (BANGALORE) DIVYASH BAJPAI T (USA), KAPIL DUDAKIA (U.K.) RAJIV AGNIHOTRI three years of protests by free speech campaigners and others, a bench comprising (MAURITIUS), ROMIL RAJ (DUBAI), HERMAN justices J. Chelameswar and Rohinton F. Nariman held the SILOCHAN (CANADA), YASHWANT AMIN (AUS/NZ) section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, to be unconstitutional. “Section 66A is unconstitutional and CONTENT PARTNER PRATHAM PRAVAKTA we have no hesitation in striking it down,” declared Justice R.F. Nariman, reading out the judgement. They added: “The LEGAL ADVISOR public’s right to know is directly affected by section 66A.” The ASHOKA KUMAR THAKUR apex court ruled that the controversial section 66A is “open MARKETING DIRECTOR ended, undefined, and vague” with every expression used in DIWAKAR SHETTY it “nebulous in meaning”. “Section 66A is cast so widely that virtually any opinion on any subject would be covered by it, ADMINITRATION DIRECTOR BAL MUKUND GAUR as any serious opinion dissenting with the mores of the day would be caught within its net,” the court said. CORPORATE COMMUNICATION Supreme Court looks to balance interests in Internet regulation. The ruling was SANJAY MENDIRATTA widely welcomed by free speech defendants who have been at the forefront of a GRAPHICS & DESIGN campaign against the provision that has been used by the police in recent years GREY CELLS to arrest social media users for posting comments that others deemed offensive. “Internet as a medium is meant to be free and transcend territorial borders with ONLINE PRESENTATION AMIT SONI minimal regulation and monitoring,” said R. Chandrashekhar, president of the Na- tional Association of Software and Service Companies, an industry lobby group. PHOTOGRAPHER “The IT Act has well served the objective to provide the legal framework for data RATAN SHUKLA security and Internet laws in the country. The changes enabled by the Supreme OVERSEAS MARKETING Court judgement would provide much-needed boost to the citizens of the country OEMCL (MAURITIUS), OEHCL (DUBAI) and help the objective of a digitally connected India.” ADVERTISEMENT / PR / CIRCULATION DELHI / The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recommended the strengthen- NCR: CAPT. VINAY GOYAL DHRUV JANAK & CO. R -51 ing of sections 153A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) instead of modifying BASEMENT, RAMESH PARK,LAXMI NAGAR,DELHI-92 section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. TELE: +919871232631FAX: 011-220568 Section 153A of the IPC prohibits hate speech and punishes any form of action MUMBAI: VIJAY KALANTRI - ADVISOR NEW EXCELSIOR BUILDING, 6TH FLOOR, A.K. NAYAK or communication that leads to disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will MARG, FORT, MUMBAI - 400 001 (INDIA). among people. The maximum punishment is three years in jail. Section 505, on PHONE: 91 - 22 - 2201 9265 / 2201 9160 the other hand, punishes statements that amount to public mischief. Both sections FAX : 91-22- 2201 9764 / 2201 9760 have the ramifications similar to section 66A, but unlike it, are non-bailable of- The magazine is published and printed by Rajiv fences. Agnihotri for Opinion Express Communications It is also learnt that the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Tech- & Entertainments Pvt Ltd, from 2 Ashok Nagar, nology (MeiTY) supported the idea mooted by the MHA. The MHA’s recommenda- Lucknow 226996 U.P. And printed at Kumpu Graphic Press 2 Ashok Nagar, Lucknow 226006 UP India. tions hint at the possibility of heightened censorship, which was not what the panel was set out to achieve, experts say. EDITORIAL & CORPORATE OFFICE: The Cyber Regulation Advisory Committee (CRAC) was formed by the MHA OPINION EXPRESS HOUSE 24 - A CLYDE ROAD, LUCKNOW-226001 (INDIA) PH: 91-522- to study the Supreme Court’s judgment that called section 66A “unconstitutional” 4045728/4060880 FAX: 91-522-4060880 24X7 and “draconian”. Since the IT Act was originally formed to promote the IT indus- MOBILITY +91 9984437000 try, it should be amended to allow for preventive measures, it said. Email: [email protected] The WCD Ministry’s areas of concerns are the cyber security of women and All content published may be subject to copyright, children. As part of its prescriptions of a comprehensive overhaul, it has mooted seek written permission to re-produce. Opinion Express is trade mark brand of Opinion Express the idea of a green channel for raising cyber crime cases on a real-time basis, where Communications & Entertainment Private Limited the abusive content can be taken down immediately. All disputes are subject to be under jurisdiction of courts in Lucknow. —Prashant Tewari, Editor-in-Chief OPINION EXPRESS APRIL 2015 3 APRIL 2015 COVER STORY THE D TERROR P16-24 SECURITY WATCH WHEN YOU TRAVEL P21-24 DIPLOMACY A NEW ERA IN INDO-S ARABIA P28 TIES FASHION P25-27 SKY IS THE LIMIT FOR HER Forum: How incredible really Indian Money matters: The Dubai model of P30republic is? P37economy under scrutiny Economy: Budget 2010 — focus on Biz talk: An interview with BOI P32fiscal consolidation P40Mauritious head honcho Entertainment: Deshihits.com and Postscript: Three records signs new P35fusion of east and west P50artists IN NEWS Old bottle, DREAM TEAM 2010? old wine PRESIDENT Focus on urban upper caste, youth and women electorate in Nitin Gadkari VICE-PRESIDENTS the new BJP team announced by Nitin Gadkari Shanta Kumar Shri Kalraj Mishra Shri Vinay Katiyar JP President Nitin Bhagatsingh Koshiyari Gadkari announced Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi his new team for the Karuna Shukla Najma Heptullah BBJP. Although sources Hema Malini say the leaders selected by Bijoya Chakravarti Gadkari are not the Dream Purushottam Rupala Kiran Ghai Team of the BJP's parent GENERAL SECRETARIES body, the Rashtriya Ananth Kumar Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). Thavarchand Gehlot The composition is primarily Vasundhara Raje Vijay Goyal addressing the core vote bank Arjun Munda of BJP that Congress has at- Ravishankar Prasad tracted through Rahul (Chief Spokesperson) Dharmendra Pradhan Gandhi's urban youth appeal. Narendrasingh Tomar Secondly, BJP is going back to Jagat Prakash Nadda its traditional favorite section Ram Lal (Organisation) V. Satish (Jt.Gen.Sec.Org) of upper caste and backward Saudan Singh (Jt.Gen.Sec.Org) consolidation keeping in view SECRETARIES the limited scope of attracting Santosh Gangwar certain backwards classes like Smriti Irani Saroj Pande Yadav's and Schedule caste Kiran Maheshwari community due to overwhelm- Tapir Gao ing presence of Mulayam / Navjot Singh Siddhu Ashok Pradhan Lalu Prasad and Mayawati Varun Gandhi leadership in respective do- Muralidhar Rao Kirit Somaiyya main. BJP is focused on get- Dr. Laxman ting the basics right by ad- Captain Abhimanyu dressing the core segment to Arati Mehra Bhupendra Yadav consolidate itself in the Hindi Vani Tripathi heartland rather than letting TREASURER Congress to strengthen further Piyush Goyal with Rahul's charisma. OFFICIAL SPOKESPERSONS Prakash Javdekar Rajiv Pratap Rudy Shahnawaz Hussain Kalraj new Brahmin face for BJP in UP Ramnath Kovind Tarun Vijay n its quest of creating post holding the olition leading to right wing saf- Nirmala Sitharaman Vajpayee era Brahmin lead- portfolios of fron party consolidation, post NATIONAL EXECUTIVE MEMBERS Iership, BJP is strategically Public mandal era that led to consoli- Atal Bihari Vajpayee positioning Kalraj Mishra veter- Works, dation of Backward polity throw- Lal Krishna Advani an BJP politician and a senior Medical ing Mulayam Singh in front and Murali Manohar Joshi Bangaru Laxman leader in the state of Uttar Education then advent of Kanshi Ram- Venkaiya Naidu Pradesh as its new Vice andMayawati via social justice plat- Rajnath Singh President. He was President of Tourism form that is holding the power Sushma Swaraj Uttar Pradesh state unit of BJP during even today. BJP lost it track Arun Jaitley earlier and is known to be a March post Vajpayee era resulting in Bal Apte Yashwant Sinha grass root worker. 1997-August 2000 period. He serious in fightling and chaos. It Gopinath Munde Born in 1941 in Ghazipur was widely regarded as a com- lost its backward face Kalyan S.S.Ahaluwalia District of Uttar Pradesh and he petent minister. He is currently a Singh which dented party per- Arun Shouri passed M.A. from Kashi member of Rajya Sabha. formance and discipline at Balveer Punj Vidyapeeth, Varanasi. He joined Though the task ahead is ex- large. However, new BJP presi- Chandan Mitra politics and held many party po- tremely daunting, the state of dent Nitin Gadkari is having Mridula Sinha Shatrughan Sinha sitions at state and national lev- Uttar Pradesh has seen many huge expectations from Kalraj Kaptansigh Solanki el. He was Cabinet Minister in phases in the recent time that Mishra to revive the lost Sumitra Mahajan Government of Uttar Pradesh includes post Babri Masjid dem- Brahmin vote in party's favour. Jayavantiben Mehta OPINION EXPRESS APRIL 2015 I 5 COVER STORY Is this man mightier than a republic? 6 I APRIL 2015 OPINION EXPRESS D TERROR Is Dawood Ibrahim too powerful to be tamed by a republic of more than a billion people? Prashant Tewari his is a story not to glorify a criminal but an eye opener for a Tnation having over a billion peo- ple living helplessly at the mercy of ineffective security apparatus to nab most wanted terrorist and criminal.