SC: No arrest for posts on social sites without permission

Refuses to order blanket ban on such arrests, but says arrests can't be made without permission from senior officials

The Supreme Court on Thursday said no person should be arrested for posting objectionable comments on social networking sites without taking prior permission from senior police officers. The apex court, which refused to pass an order for a blanket ban on the arrest of a person for making objectionable comments on websites, said state governments should ensure strict compliance of the Centre’s January 9 advisory, which said a person should not be arrested without taking permission from senior cops.

“We direct state governments to ensure compliance with the guidelines (issued by Centre) before making any arrest,” a bench of justices B S Chauhan and Dipak Misra said. It said the court cannot pass an order for banning all arrest in such cases, as the operation of section 66A of the Information Technology Act has not been stayed by the apex court which is examining its constitutional validity.

In view of public outrage over arrest of people for making comments or liking posts on Facebook, Centre had on January 9 issued the advisory to all states and UTs. The advisory says, “State governments are advised that as regard to arrest of any person in complaint registered under section 66A of the Information Technology Act, the police officer concerned may not arrest any person until she/he has obtained prior approval of such arrest from an officer, not below the rank of Inspector General of Police (IGP) in metropolitan cities or of an officer not below the rank of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) or Superintendent of Police (SP) at district level, as the case may be.”