The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has welcomed scrapping of the controversial section 66 A of the Information Technology (IT) Act by the Supreme Court.
BJP Madhya Pradesh spokesman Deepak Vijayvargiya in a statement on Wednesday said, “The scrapping of the controversial Information Technology (IT) act section 66 A by the Supreme Court is a welcome step as it would ensure the constitutionally provided right of freedom of expression to the people of country.”
Vijayvarigya further said that the section 66 A of the IT act is violation of the constitution’s article 19 (1) besides, it empowers police to arrest the person, who makes controversial post on internet.
He said that the fear of misuse of police rights under this section that is power to arrest without permission of higher officials had increased, that was also proved correct by the pleas in the court. The apex court has provided relief to the people of the country by considering section 66 A of the IT act as violation of freedom of expression and hence, scrapped it, he added.
The BJP State spokesman said that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government of the State has also admitted that right of expression is constitutionally provided right to the people of country in a democracy and it could not be banned. Union minister for information and technology Ravishankar Prasad has also said NDA Government is strong supporter of the freedom of expression. Media should act with the spirit of self control and to bridle the social media would not be appropriate.