Long live Indian democracy: Twitter reacts to Section 66 (A)

Most Twitterati heaved a sigh of relief at the SC's decision to scrap section 66 (A) of the IT Act. Here's what they had to say

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court struck down Section 66 (A) of the Information Technology Act, a controversial law that allowed police to arrest anyone making 'objectionable' remarks on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. In its ruling, the Supreme Court called the entire section unconstitutional and said it directly infringed the constitutional rights of Indians to freedom of expression.

So far, almost of the arrests for making derogatory comments on social media had involved commoners speaking out against politicians. In keeping with the spirit of the judgement, therefore, people took to Twitter to express their relief and joy, as well as to vent and rant against, who else, politicians. 

Some took to openly sharing their views and to lampoon the events leading up to the verdict:

 

Bal Thackeray's funeral caused such a traffic jam. Azam Khan's buffaloes are stupid. Sibal looks like Peter Pettigrew. #66A #Testing

— Siddharth Singh (@siddharth3) March 24, 2015

Thanks to Azam Khan's Buffaloes, IT Act Section 66A stands abolished :) Long live Indian Democracy #Sec66A

— Abhishek Gupta (@TwAbhitter) March 24, 2015

Sabse bada jhatka SP govt ke lye UP me. Ab kaise arrest kroge hume netaji !!! #Sec66A

— shreyansh (@shreyanshrathi) March 24, 2015

EXCLUSIVE : Kapil Sibbal reaction, after Supreme Court quashes , sec #66A pic.twitter.com/Rc1xdryWqf"

— Kirti Saxena (@kirtisaxena999) March 24, 2015

Fundamental right of speech and expression restored online with the SC striking down #Sec66A which seemed unconstitutional otherwise.KudosSC

— Shefali (@shefaliscints) March 24, 2015

Here’s what Karuna Nundy, one of the lawyers who was involved in fighting the case had to say

It's taking time to absorb, almost three years after this work began- but thank you, Constitution of India, you still redeem us. #66A

— Karuna Nundy (@karunanundy) March 24, 2015

SC: you can *only* be arrested under 66A if IG permits in metro, DCP/SP in Distt (I + ors, argued for this. Save it.) http://t.co/rZT38mQvHr

— Karuna Nundy (@karunanundy) May 25, 2014

You only need a small group of committed people to bring change- some of the people who got rid of 66A: https://t.co/pfDUjmMhzx do RT

— Karuna Nundy (@karunanundy) March 24, 2015

And here’s what a few famous personalities on Twitter had to say about the verdict:

Glad to know that I live in a free country. No #Sec66A as SC strikes it down. Super happy. Go on, troll away.

— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) March 24, 2015

The only exception to free speech must remain hate speech and incitement to violence. Defamation/slander as per common law. #Sec66A

— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) March 24, 2015

Great day for India. Just think of all those Azam Khan and Shiv Sena jokes waiting to be unleashed on Facebook. #Sec66A

— Sadanand Dhume (@dhume) March 24, 2015

Just landed from a flight to the grt news of SC striking down section #66A of the IT Act! I'd advocated it, even filed a pvt members bill.

— Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) March 24, 2015

Narendra Modi had turned his DP black to protest against #Sec66A . Then he did his classic U-turn to argue for it in Supreme Court as PM.

— Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) March 24, 2015

However, Sanjay Jha received a lot of criticisms for his tweet:

@JhaSanjay .... Classical U turn by Congress employee pic.twitter.com/1OmDXMYKrc

— Dr.Ashish Gupta (@ashishbadshah) March 24, 2015

@JhaSanjay So, who was it who introduced the #Sec66A again?

— Devesh Nayak (@deveshnayak) March 24, 2015