The Indian Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a section of a law that allowed the authorities to jail people for offensive online posts, in a judgment that was regarded as a landmark ruling on free speech in India.
The law stipulated that a person could be jailed for up to three years for any communication online that was, among other things, "grossly offensive," "menacing" or "false," and for the purpose of causing "annoyance," "inconvenience" or "injury." The provisions, which led to highly publicized arrests in recent years, had been roundly criticised by legal experts who called them vague and argued that they had been used in some cases to stifle dissent.
Sunil Abraham, the executive director of the Center for Internet & Society, which is based in Bangalore, called the decision "amazing."
"It is in continuation of a great tradition in India: that of apex courts consistently, over the years, protecting the citizens of India from violations of human rights," he said.
The government recently blocked the screening in India of the BBC documentary "India's Daughter," about the Delhi gang rape in 2012 that made international news.
In the past, critics have been particularly worried that the section of the law that was struck down was ripe for misuse at the hands of police officials often beholden to political parties.
Other highly publicized cases include the arrest in 2012 of a professor accused of sharing cartoons mocking the chief minister of West Bengal state on Facebook and the arrest of two young women after one shared a Facebook post criticizing the virtual shutdown of Mumbai following the death of a revered right-wing political leader there. The professor is still contesting his case in court, while the case against the two young women was dropped in 2013, according to the Press Trust of India.
Used To Visit Veg Hotel Run By Muslim In Kerala: Supreme Court Judge Amid Kanwar Yatra Eateries Order Row Can Arrested Politicians Campaign Virtually? What Supreme Court Said Question On Atoms In NEET-UG Physics Section Catches Supreme Court's Eye Elon Musk Reacts After Vivek Ramaswamy's Biden Prediction Goes Viral IAS Officer's Wife Who "Eloped" With Gangster Returns Home, Dies By Suicide INS Brahmaputra Severely Damaged In Fire, Lying On Its Side; Sailor Missing Kamala Harris Compares Trump To "Predators" And "Cheaters" Biden Urges Democrats To "Embrace" Kamala Harris Who Will Kamala Harris Pick As Her Running Mate? Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.