The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to explain how two young women, Shaheen Dhada and Renu Srinivasan, were arrested from Palghar in Thane district under Section 66(A) of the Information Technology Act for Facebook comments criticising the bandh called after Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s death.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir also issued notices to the West Bengal and Puducherry governments, where similar incidents occurred recently, as well as to the Delhi government, seeking responses in four weeks.
The bench, that also included Justice J. Chelameswar, issued the notices while deciding to examine the controversial Section 66(A), which was challenged by Delhi-based student Shreya Singhal. The court said: “The working of this section can lead to any kind of action by the police as it is very wide and can be applied against everybody or anyone can be arrested.”
Attorney-general G.E. Vahanvati, whose opinion was sought by the court on Thursday, said on Friday that the police action was “not justifiable; in fact, it is indefensible”. He added, though, that while Section 66A had been misused, it did not mean it should be done away with as “the section is well intended”.