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Shreya Singhal

20 August 2015

The Hindustan Times’ Aloke Tikku reported:

A first-of-its-kind set of statistics compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reveals that 2,402 people, including 29 women, were arrested in 4,192 cases under section 66A — which was struck down in March by the Supreme Court that ruled that it violated the constitutional freedom of speech.

These arrests made up nearly 60% of all arrests under the IT Act, and 40% of arrests for cyber crimes in 2014. It was also a little less than twice the number of people caught red-handed accepting bribes the same year.

“These statistics are shocking. I had assumed there may be a few hundred cases, at worst,” said Shreya Singhal, on whose petition the top court had scrapped the provision.

Also read: Behind the scenes: How 90+ lawyers & 3 judges created the biggest free speech judgment in more than half a century

03 August 2015

Section 66A of the Information Technology Act will be back on the statute books, with modifications, as per the current plan of the government, reported the PTI.

The ministry of home affairs has constituted a committee to examine the implications of the Supreme Court’s March judgment repealing the section, and to suggest changes in the section that will make it fully compatible with the constitution, according to telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s statement in the parliament.

Another committee chaired by former law commission secretary TK Vishwanathan will study the Supreme Court’s judgment and suggest a “road map” with measures and amendments.

Section 69A, which was also challenged before the Supreme Court but was not ruled unconstitutional in its judgment in March, was invoked by the government to block 857 porn sites in India this weekend, as reported by Legally India.

01 April 2015

In Numbers: Via MintDespite all the legal firepower involved, it was far from certain that the case would go the way it did.