The Narendra Modi Government should immediately take back Section 66A of Information Technology Act as this harms genuine users, who are mostly the youth, the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) said today.
Lambasting the BJP-led NDA government for adopting "double standards", IYC president Raja Amrinder Warring said it has given an affidavit in Supreme Court supporting the Section, even though they had opposed it when UPA tabled the Bill in Parliament.
"The Modi Government is giving consent to this Act. This is evident from the recent affidavit submitted by the government law officers in the Supreme Court saying that advisory issued by the UPA government in 2013, has all the safeguards in it, thus giving direct consent to the Section 66A of the Information Technology Act," Warring said in a statement here.
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The Centre has given affidavit in the Supreme Court saying the advisory issued by the government in 2013 would ensure that honest and legal use of cyber space does not result into harassment of any citizens of the country, he said.
"They also requested the court to dismiss the pleas which are pending against the Section 66A of IT Act. The section provides for up to three years in jail for sending offensive or annoying messages online on the social media," he said.
"Youth Congress, at that moment, when (the then Union Minister) Kapil Sibal introduced this bill, had opposed it and now also it is strictly against this Act because it harms the common user of Facebbok, Twitter and WhatsApp, which is most used by the youth of this country," he said and demanded its rollback.
