Over a week after the Supreme Court termed the continued use of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 as “a shocking state of affairs”, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday asked states and Union Territories to direct all police stations not to register cases under the repealed section of the IT Act.
It has also advised that cases lodged in states and UTs under Section 66A should be immediately withdrawn.
Section 66A empowered police to make arrests over what policemen, in terms of their subjective discretion, could construe as “offensive” or “menacing”. It prescribed the punishment for sending messages through computer or any other communication device like a mobile phone or a tablet, and a conviction could fetch a maximum of three years in jail.