Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, March 24: Tuesday’s landmark judgment by the Supreme Court to strike down Section 66(A) of the IT Act has been widely acclaimed by netizens in the city.
“It was against the very spirit of democracy and free speech,” said Ankit Srivastava, a first-year B Tech student from KIIT. “I was so happy and relieved on getting to know about the judgment that I immediately logged on to Facebook to share the news,” Ankit said. “We grew up hearing grandiose things about how ours is the largest democracy in the world and how we are entitled to free speech. But there was a rise in cases where police would arrest people just on the basis of some online posts that they’d made criticising the government or some politician. This was unacceptable, and thankfully the Supreme Court has acted against this,” Ankit added.
There was a surge in social media posts from the twin cities expressing their happiness at the Supreme Court verdict. “I’d read about Article 19 of the Constitution which talks about right to express views. But some cases related to the Section scared students into not posting their views online. This has come as a big relief for them and now their voices will also be heard. Many friends are sharing the news on social networking sites and on platforms like WhatsApp,” said Pradeep Swain, a student of political science from Utkal University.
Sangeeta Das, an IAS aspirant from Palasuni, said she was overjoyed at the news. “I saw many of my friends celebrating the verdict online. The arbitrary section was muzzling public opinion and was a tool in the hands of politicians to arrest whoever raised their voice against them on the internet. This section was widely misused by law enforcement agencies across the country to arrest innocent persons for posting critical commentary on social and political issues and on political leaders on social media. A lot of youngsters share whatever catches their fancy, like a cartoon or a satire on some political leader. Even that would get them into trouble. Thanks to the Supreme Court, voicing your opinion will now be safer. Having said that, I think self-restraint and self-censorship is also needed keeping in mind others’ sentiments,” Sangeeta said.
Several politicians also welcomed the judgment by the top court on the issue, saying the law was poorly drafted and was misused.
