Supreme Court Notice To All States On Cases Being Filed Under Scrapped Law

The top court had struck down the contentious law in 2015 in a bid to maintain the constitutional right to freedom of speech online

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to all states and UTs on the continuing registration of cases under Section 66A of the IT Act, which was quashed by the court six years ago. A notice has also been issued to the Registrar-General of all High Courts and responses have been sought within four weeks. Justice RF Nariman said: "The judiciary... will look into separately... (and) as this matter pertains to not only courts but also police, (let) notice be issued to all states and Union Territories." The court's notice comes weeks after the centre told states and UTs not to register cases under the defunct Section 66A, and directed them to tell their respective police forces that any case under the scrapped law should be immediately withdrawn.