Still cases with controversial IT law repealed; The court asked the Center for an explanation

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday criticized the Center for registering cases in the country over repealed sections of the TI Act. The court said it was “shocking” that thousands of cases had already been registered under the controversial Section 66A of the TI Act. This controversial section is intended to arrest those who post criminal content online.

At the same time, serious charges were brought against the law, as it was not clear in the law what the crimes were. The law was repealed seven years ago. On March 24, 2015, the Supreme Court struck down the law as unconstitutional and vague and contrary to freedom of expression.

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The higher court said the case was registered under the repealed law and a notice on the matter would be issued. The order was approved by a court consisting of Justices R Nariman, KM Joseph and BR Gawai. The court also asked the central government to provide an explanation within two weeks. The court ruled that the incident was “horrible” and said the legal action was “shocking.”

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The petition was presented by the Popular Union for Civil Liberties. The court also asked the government to instruct all police stations not to register cases in this section. The petitioners argued that people were suffering by filing cases using prohibited laws and asked the Center to take stock of these FIRs.

The petitioners indicated that a total of 229 cases were pending before the courts until the repeal of Article 66A, but now 1307 new cases have been registered. Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan recorded the highest number of cases.