Breaking- Immediately Withdraw Cases Registered Under Repealed S. 66A Of IT Act; Don't Register Any Further Cases: MHA To States, UTs

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)  on Wednesday directed all State governments and police chiefs to immediately withdraw all pending cases and not register further cases under the repealed Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000.

This advisory comes days after the Supreme Court expressed shock that Section 66A was still being invoked to prosecute people even after six years had passed since it was held unconstitutional. 

MHA (@HMOIndia) directs all the States & UTs not to register cases under Section 66A of the IT Act (which was struck down in Shreya Singhal Judgment by SC in 2015)

Directions also given to withdraw all the lodged cases under this section immediately. @PIB_India @AmitShah pic.twitter.com/NxaC9gfJ4F

— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) July 14, 2021

A Bench headed by Justice RF Nariman was hearing an application filed by Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) seeking various directions and guidelines against FIRs being registered under the repealed provision. 

Section 66A of the IT Act was struck down pursuant to the Supreme Court judgment in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India dated March 24, 2015. In this regard, all States and Union Territories were directed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) vide letter dated January 14, 2019 to sensitise police authorities to strictly abide by the aforementioned Apex Court direction. The Union Home Ministry had also issued earlier orders dated January 14, 2019 and April 1, 2019 in this regard. 

"It is therefore, requested to direct all the police stations not to register cases under the repealed Section 66A of the information Technology Act,2000 and sensitise the law enforcement agencies for the compliance of the order issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court on 24.03.2015. If any case has been booked in your State under section 66A of the IT Act, 2000, it should immediately be withdrawn", the advisory read. 

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