Vaibhav Aggarwal v. State of Uttarakhand
In the High Court of Uttarakhand
Crl. Misc. Appl. 922/2017
Before Justice V. K. Bist
Decided on March 21, 2018

Relevancy of the case: Quashing of criminal proceedings in a case involving Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 66A)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 153A)
• The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Section 482)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• An FIR was lodged by Shakeb Rizbi (complainant) upon receiving incriminating messages (articles) on his Facebook account that allegedly hurt his and his friends’ religious sentiments. During the investigation of the matter, the applicant’s name came to light, and the charge sheet was filed.
• Upon considering the charge sheet, the Magistrate issued summons under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the learned II Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate failed to consider that Section 66A had been struck down by the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India in 2015, for the reason that it was ambiguous, and violative of Art. 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, 1950. Further, the FSL report of the laptop of the applicant is awaited and the investigating officer had not submitted the entire evidence before the court.
• The respondent’s counsel conceded the fact that cognizance could not be taken under Section 66A as it has been struck down.

Opinion of the Bench

• As Section 66A has been struck down, no cognizance could be taken. Therefore, the Magistrate committed great illegality in issuing the summoning order under this provision.

Final Decision

• Application allowed.
• Proceedings quashed.

This case summary has been prepared by Shrawani Mohani, an undergraduate student at ILS Law College, Pune, during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in January/February 2021.