No citizen can be prosecuted under Section 66A IT Act: Supreme Court

The section relating to restrictions on online speech was declared unconstitutional on grounds of violating the freedom of speech guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday laid down guidelines for the implementation of the Shreya Singhal versus Union of India judgment, which declared Section 66(A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 unconstitutional.

Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, of 2000 made it a punishable offence for any person to send offensive information using a computer or any other electronic device. The provision also made it punishable for a person to send information that they believed to be false. Even sending emails for causing annoyance, inconvenience, or to deceive or mislead the recipient about the origin of the message was punishable