[BREAKING] "What is going on is terrible:" Supreme Court on continued use of Section 66A of IT Act; issues notice to Centre in plea by PUCL

The Supreme Court today issued notice in a plea highlighting the continued use of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which was struck down by the Court in 2015..The Bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman, KM Joseph and BR Gavai issued notice in a plea by NGO People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) seeking a direction to the Centre to advise all police stations against registering of FIRs under Section 66A, which was declared unconstitutional by the top court on March 24, 2015..When the matter was heard today, Justice Nariman remarked,"Amazing. What is going on is terrible.".On the request of Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh to look into these cases, the Court said that it would issue notice..Appearing for the Central government, Attorney General KK Venugopal said,"Even if it is struck down by the Division Bench, Section 66A is still there. When police has to register a case, the Section is still there and only has a footnote that the Supreme Court has struck it down. There has to be a bracket in 66A with words 'struck down'.".The Court then asked the Centre to file a response within two weeks..In an application filed through Advocate Aparna Bhat, the organisation has submitted that "shockingly," Section 66A of the IT Act has continued to be in use not only within police stations but also in cases before trial courts across the country..The plea cited findings of the Zombie Tracker Website to say that as on March 10, 2021, around 745 cases are still pending and active before the districts courts wherein accused are charged under Section 66 A of IT Act..It is prayed that the Centre be directed to collect all data on FIRs and cases registered under Section 66A pending before courts across the country. Also sought are directions to all the High Courts to ensure compliance with the judgment in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India..PUCL has also sought directions to the Union government to publish in all leading newspapers - both English and vernacular languages - informing the general public that Section 66A has been struck down and is no longer a law. .The NGO had filed a similar plea in 2018 seeking compliance with the 2015 judgment. .In February 15, 2019, Supreme Court disposed of the matter by directing that copies of the Shreya Singhal judgment be made available by every High Court in this country to all district courts. The Centre was directed to make available copies of the judgment to Chief Secretaries of all state governments and union territories. The Chief Secretaries were, in turn, directed to sensitise the police departments by sending copies of the judgment to the Director-General of Police of each state. .Amazed that FIRs are being registered under Section 66A of IT Act, despite it being declared ultra vires: Allahabad HC