O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! The verdict is clear: free speech reigns on the internet in India.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act 2000 in its entirety, holding it responsible for "arbitrarily, excessively and disproportionately" invading the right of free speech.
Perhaps no other judgement in recent times had been awaited with such a collective bated breath as the one on Tuesday by Justice J Chelameswar and Justice Rohinton F Nariman, and as the news came in, the collective letting out of whoops of joy and the outpouring of emotions was spontaneous, particularly on Twitter. A selection:
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act 2000 in its entirety, holding it responsible for "arbitrarily, excessively and disproportionately" invading the right of free speech.
Perhaps no other judgement in recent times had been awaited with such a collective bated breath as the one on Tuesday by Justice J Chelameswar and Justice Rohinton F Nariman, and as the news came in, the collective letting out of whoops of joy and the outpouring of emotions was spontaneous, particularly on Twitter. A selection:
Oh, #Sec66A gone. End to zero-loss cyber bullying by the state
— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) March 24, 2015#Section66A #Sec66A #No66A Modi reacts: pic.twitter.com/CvH6yUzx8R
— Brain Plumber (@pulpvoxel) March 24, 2015 KRK, Mamta Banerjee, Ishant sharma, Rahul Gandhi: BC MC TMC. #No66A testing
— Aangey (ईशू) (@jockeyFreeSize) March 24, 2015 News: #No66A Twitter: pic.twitter.com/slqtmBc6Wb
— Blue Ofcourse (@BeingMSD) March 24, 2015 Rahul Gandhi to extend his vacation further. #No66A
— ABCD Villiers (@abcdvilliers) March 24, 2015"Mitron....with great freedom comes great responsibility also..." #SelfNote #Sec66A pic.twitter.com/jlGVvBFl6T
— one tip one hand (@OneTipOneHand_) March 24, 2015 As promised! Hell Yeah! WTG Supreme Court!!! #No66A pic.twitter.com/9YJp3A8mzx
— Avantika Mehta (@bitingfriends) March 24, 2015.@KapilSibal lolololololololololol
— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 24, 2015#Sec66A pic.twitter.com/VPA29mKKBM
— Neeraj Thakur (@NeerajT4) March 24, 2015I support #No66A I support #Sec66A pic.twitter.com/0b9LuNXEwY
— Gautam Trivedi (@Gotham3) March 24, 2015#No66A: Now Virat Kohli can tweet his favorite words :D
— Sittu (@Sarcaism) March 24, 2015Justice Chelameswar and Justice Nariman. Remember their names. :)
— Pierre Fitter (@pierrefitter) March 24, 2015"Acche din", is that you? Will you stick around for a while, please? #Sec66A #Section66A
— Tania Goklany (@TaniaGoklany) March 24, 2015News: #No66A Twitter: pic.twitter.com/nIBPNAedhf
— Blue Ofcourse (@BeingMSD) March 24, 2015#Sec66A Most politicians: Suggested 66A. Approved of 66A. Defended 66A. Fought for 66A. Now celebrating that it has been struck down. Dei.
— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) March 24, 2015या अल्लाह, मेरे अल्पसंख्यक भाइयो पर रहम करना. #Sec66A
— Arvind Kejriwal (@arvindkerjiwal) March 24, 2015Next election: vote for Supreme Court. #Sec66A
— Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) March 24, 2015#No66A हम आज़ाद हैं pic.twitter.com/zsBxItXxiV
— Aarti (@aartic02) March 24, 2015@AllIndiaBakchod when #Sec66A was there pic.twitter.com/wybXxmI2UN
— UGLY BAKCHOD (@BakchodFan) March 24, 2015A Big hurdle crossed. SC has struck down #Sec66A. Now the final Hurdle - Arnab Goswami should uphold the SC Judgement
— Joy (@Joydas) March 24, 2015Two tweets that tell the story. Cong spokesperson in Nov 2012, defending 66A, and defending FoE today :-) pic.twitter.com/gXQtbLCA1v
— Sachin Kalbag (@SachinKalbag) March 24, 2015
Congress creates #66A. BJP criticises #66A. BJP defeats Congress. BJP supports #66A. SC kills #66A Congress criticises BJP.
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) March 24, 2015
Oh look, SC using Shakespeare to understand the difference between advocacy and incitement. #66A pic.twitter.com/v387ZcCP6V
— Danish Sheikh (@dsheikh726) March 24, 2015