Ensure freedom of speech is not infringed upon: Par panel to

A Parliamentary panel today asked the government to ensure that citizens are not harassed, and people's freedom of speech is not infringed upon, on account of certain sections in the IT Act as was done in some cases.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, chaired by Rao Inderjit Singh, said it did not agree with the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) contention that 4 cases under Section 66A and 2 cases under Section 79 are "mere aberrations".
Section 66A of the IT Act prescribes punishment for sending offensive messages through communication services, while, Section 79 provides for intermediaries to observe due diligence and safeguards.

The panel said that 2012-13 witnessed a few controversies related to these sections of the IT Act, 2008 and the department had issued an advisory in this regard so that the government's stand becomes clear on the issue.
"The committee do not agree with the contention of the department that the 4 cases under Section 66A and 2 cases under Section 79 of the IT Act during 2012-13 are mere aberrations and that it would not be advisable to amend the law based on these 4 cases where appropriate action has been taken to address the issues," it added.
DEITY in its reply to the panel had said in the last 3 years media had highlighted four cases where misuse of Section 66A was alleged and appropriate action was taken in all the cases, which included a case from Maharashtra where police officials and a judicial officer were transfered.

"The committee strongly feel that these cases should be taken as precedents which might be repeated in future to harass the innocent citizen and infringe upon the Right of Freedom of speech of public," the report said.

Acknowledging that DEITY had followed the international best practices in framing the provision of the IT Act, the panel suggested to the department that an act should take into account the ground situation and adapt to emerging challenges.
The panel said it was also "highly unhappy" with Planning Commission allocating just Rs 500 crore against a demand of Rs 1,500 crore made by DEITY to fight cyber crime.

"The committee are highly unhappy to note that the increased demand for 2013-14 proposed by the department for taking new initiatives in field of cyber security, have not been considered by the Planning Commission," the report said.
The panel added that for 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), against a demand of Rs 1,500 crore, the department (DEITY) has been allocated only Rs 500 crore.
In view of the fact that in last five years, as many as 1,273 government websites have been hacked and financial fraud/cyber crime has increased tremendously, the panel said it endorses DEITY's submission that restriction in allocation would delay in taking new initiatives to check on cyber crime.

"The committee strongly feel that the funds allocated under cyber security including CERT-In IT Act should be increased," it added.