http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31804&articlexml=MHA-mulls-revised-cyber-crime-law-to-fill-14042015011032
Apr 14 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai) MHA mulls `revised' cyber crime law to fill void created by 66A Bharti Jain New Delhi: Will Include Safeguards Against Abuse Acknowledging the concerns of law enforcement agencies on tackling cyber crime in the wake of the Supreme Court scrapping Section 66A of the IT Act, the home ministry has begun examining how the provision can be reconstructed to conform to constitutional norms while eliminating the scope for ambiguities in its application. Among the safeguards that will be woven into the amended provision are authorizing a senior police officer to register FIRs and execution of arrests only in "defined" circumstances. A committee has been set up under special secretary (in ternal security) in the home ministry Ashok Prasad -with representatives of the NIA, Intelligence Bureau and CBI as members -to look at the possibility of reinserting a provision in the IT Act on the lines of Section 66A that is legally tenable and incorporates enough safeguards against its misuse to curb free speech.The panel has been asked to submit its report in a month, which will then be forwarded to the IT ministry . Among the offences sought to be addressed by the new provision are online support to a banned terrorist outfit; incitement to commission of an offence, particularly communal posts; electronic messages affecting relations with friendly countries; and, possibly , online activity in violation of morality and decency . However, to ensure that individual freedom of expression is not curbed, the proposed provision will exclude ambiguous expressions such as "offensive language" or "causing annoyance" that left Section 66A prone to subjective interpretation. According to home ministry sources, the need for a tighter legal regime to govern online activity was felt as India is the third largest internet user in the world. Also, internet coverage in India will soon extend to 40% of its population. At a meeting chaired by Union home secretary L C Goyal here on Monday , attend ed by CBI chief Anil Sinha, NIA chief Sharad Kumar and Delhi Police commissioner B S Bassi, a multi-member committee was asked to examine the legal void left by scrapping of Section 66A and how to fill the same. Section 66A was struck down by the Supreme Court in a landmark verdict last month lauded by netizens as the victory of freedom of expression.Explaining the need to revisit the need of a provision in the IT Act to deal with crimes that affect national security ,a senior home ministry official said there was need to cover online support to a terror outfit not only under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act but also IT Act. Also, given that communal posts were largely addressed under Section 66A, it's scrapping left the enforcement agencies no choice but to only book the offender under Section 153A of IPC. Click To Enlarge -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
