offence against persons who use the internet and annoy or
cause inconvenience to others very clearly affects the freedom
of speech and expression of the citizenry of India at large in
that such speech or expression is directly curbed by the
creation of the offence contained in Section 66A.
In this regard, the observations of Justice Jackson in
American Communications Association v. Douds, 94 L. Ed.
925 are apposite:
“Thought control is a copyright of totalitarianism,
and we have no claim to it. It is not the function of
our Government to keep the citizen from falling into
error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the
Government from falling into error. We could justify
any censorship only when the censors are better
shielded against error than the censored.”
B. Article 19(2)
One challenge to Section 66A made by the petitioners’
counsel is that the offence created by the said Section has no
proximate relation with any of the eight subject matters
contained in Article 19(2). We may incidentally mention that the
State has claimed that the said Section can be supported under
22