Madras High Court today directed the Tamil Nadu Government to file counter affidavit within four weeks on a PIL seeking to declare the amended Goondas Act, which brings cyber offenders and sexual offenders under its ambit, as null and void.
The First Bench Comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sathyanarayanan directed the Government Pleader STS Moorthy to file counter affidavit and asked the petitioner S Raju, State Co-coordinator, Human Rights Protection Centre, Tamil Nadu, to file rejoinder within two weeks thereafter.
In his petition, Raju submitted that the government had amended the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act-1982 on August 11 this year bringing cyber and sexual offenders under its ambit omitting the word "habitual".
The amended Act allowed the arrest of even the first time offenders in the absence of the word "habitual", the petitioner submitted.
Normally Goondas Act is slapped on habitual offenders, he contended.
He contended that "there is every possibility of misuse" of this law.
In the case of sexual offenders, preventive detention will not serve any purpose and the only way for speedy justice was immediate investigation, he submitted.
Claiming that the preventive detention of a cyber offender will deny the individual freedom of speech and expression the petitioner said "it is a prior restraint i.E government action that prohibits speech or other expression even before it takes place."
"Such prior restraint is impermissible and it makes much easier for the government to censor material and it places the censorial power in the hands of an administrative or executive authority".
The social media which depends only on the usage of IT to bring out information about "corrupt" politicians and information on government authorities, will be under restraint in the cyber crime using due to this "draconian act", he alleged and prayed to quash the amended act and requested to declare it as null and void.
