The Supreme Court has made it more difficult for the political system to go after online commentators who have rubbed it the wrong way. In a judgement this week, the apex court has asked state governments to not arrest anybody for a post on a networking site unless the action has been cleared by senior police officials such as the inspector general of police.
Though pressure can be brought on senior policemen as well, the judgement is a welcome first step, given the several recent arrests of citizens who had posted content that was deemed “objectionable” by some political group or the other.
The next step should be scrapping the contentious section 66A of the Information Technology Act, with its vague provisions about content that is “grossly offensive”, “of menacing character”, or which causes “inconvenience, annoyance, danger, obstruction or insult”.