A law in Kerala akin to the section 66A of the Information Technology Act and invoked to arrest a person for causing "annoyance" to others in an "indecent manner" by communicating through various modes was today struck down by the Supreme Court
Holding Section 118 (d) of the Kerala Police Act as "unconstituional" for being violative of fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression, the apex court said "what has been said about Section 66A would apply directly to it also.
"Section 118(d) of the Kerala Police Act is struck down being violative of Article 19(1)(a) and not saved by Article 19(2)," a bench of justices J Chelameswar and R F Nariman said.
"....What has been said about Section 66A would apply directly to Section 118(d) of the Kerala Police Act, as causing annoyance in an indecent manner suffers from the same type of vagueness and over breadth, that led to the invalidity of Section 66A, and for the reasons given for striking down Section 66A, Section 118(d) also violates Article 19(1)(a) and not being a reasonable restriction on the said right and not being saved under any of the subject matters contained in Article 19(2) is hereby declared to be unconstitutional," it said.
