On Wednesday, the Ministry of Home affairs directed the State Governments and Union territories to no longer register any case under the repealed section 66 A of IT Act, 2000 and withdraw all the pending cases under the said provision.
Such a direction was made after the Supreme Court expressed its shock on the fact that the section 66A was still being invoked after having been repealed for 6 years now. Section 66A of the IT Act, 2000 was repealed in the case of Shreya Singhal v. Union of India in the year 2015.
The bench headed by Justice RF Nariman was hearing a case filed by the PUCL that sought directions against the complaints made under the repealed section.
In the year 2019, all the States and Union territories were directed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to abide by the directions of the Supreme Court and not register any such case under the section repealed.
The Court had asked the police officers to not register any case under the repealed section and to sensitize the law enforcement agencies on the matter. It had further asked them to withdraw any such case that has been filed.
Lawcutor 