Brief: Section 66A of the Information Technology Act

 Section 66A is one such provision which has frequently been used by the State as well as the vast class of offended persons who resort to it when remarks are made against them. The problem with Section 66A is that it is so broadly framed that the remarks do not even need to be libelous for it to be attracted. It reads as follows:

66A. Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc..- Any person who sends, by means of a computer resource or a communication device,-(a) any information that is grossly offensive or has menacing character; or(b) any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, or ill will, persistently makes by making use of such computer resource or a communication device,(c) any electronic mail or electronic mail message for the purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience or to deceive or to mislead the addressee or recipient about the origin of such messages shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to tthree years and with fine.Explanation: For the purposes of this section, terms “Electronic mail” and “Electronic Mail Message” means a message or information created or transmitted or received on a computer, computer system, computer resource or communication device including attachments in text, image, audio, video and any other electronic record, which may be transmitted with the message.

Use of Section 66A

Some recent incidents where Section 66A has been applied include:

1.  Professor in Kolkata: Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mohapatra, was arrested in April, 2011 for posting a cartoon on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on the internet. Ambikesh Mohapatra was charged under under 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000; under Section 500 (defamation); 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman through word, gesture or act) and u/s114 (presence of abettor at the time of commission of offence
2. Aseem Trivedi and Cartoons Against Corruption: Aseem Trivedi was arrested in September, 2012 following a complaint filed against the cartoons authored by him which depicted national symbols in cartoons questioning corruption. Though the specific cartoon in the police complaint on which the arrest was made are not specified, his cartoons can still be accessed on his facebook page. Based on this Aseem was charged under of section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000; 124A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (sedition); under Prevention of Insults of National Honour Act, 1971.
3. Heena Bakshi post on Chandigrah Traffic Police Webpage: After Heena Bakshi’s car was stolen due to alleged harassment she wrote a post on the facebook page of the Chandigarh Traffic Police. The posted contained expletives, though they were not directed on the police directly. Heena Bakshi was booked under Section 66A and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
4. Ravi Srinivasan -  IAC volunteer was charged under 66A of IT Act, an offence, for which he can be fined and jailed upto 3 years—- And all this for sending a tweet to 16 followers— “got reports that karthick chidambaram has amassed more wealth than vadra.”

Problems with 66A

• Sec. 66A & Article 19(2): The freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right contained under Article 19(1)(a) which is subject to the “reasonable restrictions” contained within Article 19(2). Towards this, Sec. 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 contains broad phrases which will not fall within the reasonable restrictions as contained under Article 19(2). The phrases include under, Sec. 66A(1) “grossly offensive” and “menacing character”; Sec. 66A(2) “annoyance, inconvenience..”; and Sec. 66A(3), “purpose of causing annoyance or inconvenience”.
• Vagueness Offences under Sec. 66A: The phrases contained under Sec.66A do not find definition through the Information Technology Act, 2000 or do not have analogous provisions under other laws. Due to the absence of any definitions of “grossly offensive” or “menacing character”, the offences under it are without any limitation. In as much due to the vague phrasing the act is vulnerable for arbitrary use.
• Duplicity of Offence under Sec. 66A: The offences under 66A result in a duplication of offences which are contained under existing penal laws which are adequate to check the commission of crimes and also contain legislative and judicially defined limitations.
• Offence under Sec. 66A applies only to online speech: This presents a problematic outcome where the same speech may be legal offline but may be illegal online. This has the tendency to place an unreasonable restraint on a medium without a valid differentia or purpose.
• Lack of clarity in Sec. 66A: The Sec. 66A does not contain one offence, but contains any possible offence for uploaded content. The Sec. 66A lacks any coherence and structure as to the commission of a single offence. Due to this lack of clarity it does not contain any definite elements of an offence which are specified in its clauses. This is most noticeable in Sec. 66A(2), which contains a list of distinct grounds under which the section can be attracted. Most of the grounds are not even specified for instance, “annoyance” or “inconvenience” does not contain any ingredients.
• Offence under Sec. 66A is cognizable: Another anomalous position is presented as the punishment which is prescribed under Sec. 66A is a term of imprisonment for 3 years. This makes it cognizable and non-bailable. Hence with the application of 66A the accussed may fear arrest and the police seeking their custody.
• Offence under Sec. 66A increases jail terms for existing offences: In addition to duplication of existing offence, Sec. 66A increases the jail terms excessively of existing offences.

Chinese New Leadership

Picture from BBC

Xi Jinping

• Xi Jinping has become China's new Communist Party chief, and is now certain to take over next year as the country's President as well.
• Xi also assumed chairmanship of the Central Military Commission (CMC). This is a significant departure from the 2002 transition when Hu’s predecessor Jiang Zemin had stayed on as head of the military commission for two years after stepping down as party chief.
• He is a privileged son of a former top leader, and called as 'princeling'. He is learning Chinese politics from an early age when his father was purged and he himself was sent to work in the countryside.
• Mr Xi's close ties to the military and his support for state-owned industries suggest he's conservative.
• He is among integrationist, assertive towards Taiwan’s integration with China.
• He is seen as a pro-market reformer and a staunch believer in party power.
• He was born in Beijing in 1953.
• He studied chemical engineering in Tsinghua before joining the Party in 1974.
• Xi worked in Hebei, Fujian and Zhejiang, before being named Shanghai party chief in 2007 and tasked with cleaning up a corruption scandal. He spent much of his career in Shanghai and the coastal provinces of Fujian & Zhejiang, all of them economically vibrant
• He is known as Anti-Corruption crusader. He has a reputation for straight-talking, telling officials in 2004: 'Rein in your spouses, children, relatives, friends and staff, and vow not to use power for personal gain.'
• His wife is - the folk singer Peng Liyuan.

Li Keqiang

• Expected to be the next Premier, Li, is a protege of outgoing President Hu Jintao.
• Li Keqiang's career has seen him rise from manual labourer on a rural commune to provincial party chief and now a leader-in-waiting.
• He has a reputation for caring about China's less well-off, perhaps the result of a modest upbringing.
• His easy-going manner and consensual style has prompted some to question whether he is dogged enough to tackle strong vested interests which dominate much of China's economy.
• Born in 1955 in Anhui Province, Mr Li reportedly rejected his father's offer of a local party career, enrolling instead at Beijing's Peking University to study law. Mr Li became deputy party secretary for Henan Province in 1998, and became China's youngest provincial governor a year later.
• Li ran two key industrial provinces. As a vicepremier, his portfolio includes health reforms, energy and food safety. Still, questions of inexperience on economy have dogged him as he prepares to take the post of premier, the top economy job in China

Zhang Dejiang

• Zhang Dejiang was chosen by China's leaders for their toughest assignment of 2012, taking over as party chief of Chongqing after the fall of Bo Xilai.
• It cemented his reputation as a trouble-shooter who could be relied on to manage a crisis, and suggested he was set for the very top.
• Mr Zhang is one of few experts on a China's oldest ally, North Korea, and even spent two years studying economics in Pyongyang.
• He is son of a PLA major-general. He started his party career on the North Korean border, before being moved to Zhejiang and then working as party secretary in Guangdong between 2002 and 2007.
• He was vice-premier in charge of Industry and ran two key economic powerhouse provinces.
• He is being criticised for slow response of his government when SARS broke out in the province in 2002.
• Mr Zhang was heavily criticised. His tough stance towards protestors and journalists was also unpopular.
• He is not known to be a reformer, and opposed allowing businessmen to join the party.

Yu Zhengsheng

• Yu Zhengsheng is party chief of Shanghai, China's largest city.
• A 'princeling' with close ties to both former president Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, he also has links to the late Deng Xiaoping's family.
• Unusually, his political career survived his brother's defection to the US in the mid-1980s, possibly thanks to the backing of Deng's disabled son. His father was ex-husband of a woman who later married to Mao Zedong.
• He is a missile engineer, specialising in ballistic missiles.
• He later worked as mayor and party chief of the eastern city of Qingdao and was credited with helping launch two of China's best-known brands overseas - Tsingtao beer and Haier appliances.
• Mr Yu prefers to travel in a simple car without a motorcade, and surrounds himself with few bodyguards, it was revealed in leaked diplomatic cables from 2007.
• Mr Yu has talked about tensions between urban development and the environment.

Liu Yunshan

• Liu Yunshan, 55, is head of the party's propaganda department, the body which strictly controls the country's media and polices the internet.
• But he encouraged state media to expand overseas to push government line.
• He worked in Inner Mongolia from 1968, as a young man to work in a commune. He later became a Xinhua news agency reporter, public relations specialist, and finally deputy party secretary.
• Born in Xinzhou, Shanxi, he joined the party in 1971 and was a graduate of the Party School.
• He worked with President Hu Jintao at the party youth league and is seen as a close ally. He was also considered as staunch supporter of Jiang Zemin.
• Mr Liu's son, Liu Lefei, is a prominent private equity investor.
• Mr Liu is expected to take over the propaganda portfolio.
• Mr Liu has expressed concern over the growing numbers of Chinese using online forums to criticise the government.

Wang Qishan

• A technocrat with experience in finance & trade issues.
• Wang Qishan is well known face in West, a key figure in discussions about the global economy and China's economic links with the US.
• Henry Paulson, the former US treasury secretary, described him as 'decisive and inquisitive', and someone with a 'wicked sense of humour'.
• He is often compared to his political mentor, former premier Zhu Rongji. Both are known by their nickname, 'fire brigade chief', because of their crisis management.
• Mr Wang is a 'princeling', the son of a top official, and he is married to Yao Minshan, daughter of former vice-premier Yao Yilin.
• He joined the party relatively late, at age 35, and worked as a banker.
• He was made mayor of Beijing in 2004, at the height of the SARS crisis and was credited for a no-nonsense approach, enforcing quarantine and working with the World Health Organisation.
• He played important role in fending off US pressure over China’s currency policies.

Zhang Gaoli

• A low-key technocrat who adheres to “Do more, speak less” motto.
• Zhang Gaoli has presided over the development boom in Tianjin, a large and wealthy city east of Beijing.
• Born in Fujian, he graduated from Xiamen University and studied statistics and economics.
• He spent the early part of his career working in the oil industry, before becoming an official in the southern province of Guangdong in the mid-1980s.
• His career took off from 1998 as party boss of the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong.
• While overseeing the city's development, he also established close ties with former President Jiang Zemin and his supporters, a relationship which helped ensure Mr Zhang's promotion to governor of the province of Shandong in 2002.
• Mr Zhang has been a low-profile leader in Tianjin, and little is known about his views or personal life.

AP Photo / Vincent Yu