Government Welcomes Court Decision on 66A
Press Information Bureau,
Government of India
Ministry of Communications & Information Technology
24th March, 2015
Following is the text of the statement made by the Union Minister for
Telecom & IT, Sh Ravi Shankar Prasad on Supreme Court judgement on
section 66-A of IT act:
“The Union Government welcomes Hon’ble SC’s decision on 66A. When the
UPA Govt came out with draconian provisions under 66A, BJP in
opposition firmly opposed it and said that ’66 is unacceptable in
current form’. BJP resolutely stood up against the censorship and
blocking on social media done by UPA Govt.
Once in Govt, it took its opposition to the draconian provisions of
66A on record in Court Proceedings. New Affidavits filed by NDA Govt in
Hon’ble Supreme Court clearly show the marked difference in the approach
from UPA Govt.
NDA Govt, in what can be dubbed as a landmark moment in India’s
Internet history, has accorded the same amount of freedom of speech and
expression that a citizen of India is granted in normal life under our
constitution by our founding fathers .
After detailed discussion with the Central Government at the highest
possible level, the Central Government filed an Affidavit before the
Hon’ble Supreme Court making its stand absolutely clear that the
Government respects the freedom of speech and expression. The relevant
paragraphs are verbatim quoted:
A. “This counter affidavit is being filed only for the purpose of
assisting this Hon’ble Court and to satisfy this Hon’ble Court that the
impugned Sections of the IT Act neither seeks to curtail nor the Central
Government desires any interpretation which seeks to curtail any of the
fundamental rights guaranteed to the citizens including the right under
Article 19(1)(a) i.e. fundamental right to free speech and expression.
B. This counter affidavit seeks to point out the necessity and
desirability of the provisions which are challenged in these petitions
and to bring it on record that the usage of cyber space either by social
media or otherwise is not even remotely intended to be curtailed either
totally or partially at instance of Union of India.
C. Central Government encourages beneficial use of cyber space and
the Act only seeks to regulate the use of cyberspace which would fall
within any of and/ or all categories stipulated under Article 19(2) of
the Constitution of India.
D. That the penal provisions of the Act can never be interpreted so
as to take within its sweep political debate, any form of honest decent,
decent humour, political satire etc. With a view to avoid possibility
of any misconstruction of the expressions used in the penal provisions
of the Act, the Central Government has prepared an advisory / guidelines
to be strictly followed by law enforcement agencies which would ensure
that the honest and legal use of cyber space does not result into any
harassment to any citizen of the country.”
Thus in a layman’s language, the Government absolutely respects the
right to freedom of speech and expression on social media and has no
intention of curbing it. Only reasonable restrictions apply on social
media, as they do in routine normal day to day life in the physical
world under Article 19 (2) of the constitution of India. We will have to
understand that we cannot set a different standard of Public Morality
for Speech & Expression in Cyberspace from Speech in other mediums
and in the Public Domain
It is important to understand that Section 66A is in several parts
and only a portion of it deals with issues which can raise question of
freedom of speech and expression.
During the course of oral submissions also, it was categorically
pointed out that the Central Government shares the anxiety that
expressions like “grossly offensive” etc. referred above may be abused
at some local level. The Central Government, therefore, requested the
Hon’ble Supreme Court that the said expressions be read confined to
Article 19(2) of the Constitution only and to ensure that no right of
any citizen is scuttled, the said phrases be narrowly tailored by the
Hon’ble Supreme Court itself to obviate any possibility of any abuse of
any law enforcing agency to scuttle the free speech and expression of
the citizens.
There can be no parallel of our stand on this matter with that of the
previous UPA regime. We have in writing confirmed that we stand for
freedom of speech and expression, while the previous UPA Govt tried to
make this law an instrument to curb dissent, satire and anything else
which did not suit it. “
I have myself set an example by standing up for free speech and
rights of a teenager recently arrested at the complain of Azam Khan for
posting on Twitter and Facebook.
https://twitter.com/rsprasad/status/578921257376165888
https://www.facebook.com/RaviShankarPrasadOfficial/photos/a.10150653350208329.407036.68315058328/10153108500593329/?type=1&theater
