There have been many cases where Section 66A was misused and the subsequent arrests drew much outcry.
In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court has struck down Section 66A of the IT Act. In their order, the court said that Section 66A is violative of Article 19(1)(a), not saved by Article 19(2), and hence unconstitutional.
There have been many cases where Section 66A was misused and the subsequent arrests drew much outcry.
Here is a list of people who faced trouble for posting controversial statements on social forums.
1. Aseem Trivedi - In 2012, cartoonist Aseem Trivedi was arrested by the Mumbai police for drawing caricatures mocking the Parliament and corruption in high places.
2. Shaheen Dhada and Renu Srinivasan - The two young girls were arrested in 2012 when one of them put up a post on Facebook questioning the shut down of Mumbai city on Bal Thackeray's funeral, while the other one was arrested for liking the post. After the judgement, Srinivasan says she was happy and relieved.
3. Ambikesh Mahapatra and Subrata Sengupta - The Jadavpur University professor Mahapatra and his neighbour Subrata Sengupta were arrested for forwarding caricatures on Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in 2012. Mahapatra now feels that the judgement is a victory for the common man.
4. Ravi Srinivasan - Puducherry police had charged businessman Ravi Srinivasan in 2012 for reportedly tweeting against then union minister P Chidambarm's son Karti Chidambaram. Srinivasan had called Karti corrupt in his tweet.
5. Mayank Sharma and KV Rao - Again in 2012, Air India employees were arrested by Mumbai police for allegedly posting offensive comments about politicians on their Facebook group.
6. Kishtwar youngsters - Kishori Sharma, Bansi Lal, and Moti Lal Sharma were arrested in 2012 and sent to jail for 40 days when they were tagged in a blasphemous video on Facebook and one of them had commented on it.
7. Kanwal Bharti - In August 2013, writer Kanwal Bharti was arrested for posting a message on Facebook criticising the Uttar Pradesh government for suspending IAS oficer Durga Shakti Nagpal.
8. Rajeesh Kumar - CPI-M worker was arrested for posting 'abusive' comments and photos on Facebook about PM Narendra Modi.
9. Devu Chodankar - In 2014, Chodankar was arrested for posting a comment saying that the then PM-elect Narendra Modi will start a holocaust in India. He had posted this comment on a forum on Facbook which had over 47,000 members.
10. Student in UP - In a recent case, a student of class 11 from Uttar Pradesh was arrested for making a Facebook post about minister Azam Khan. The boy later agreed to withdraw his statement and his parents offered an apology.
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