RESERVOIR OF POWERS: Right to Freedom of Expression doesn’t grant an unfettered license for every possible use of language on social media – Sec. 67 IT Act & 500 IPC.
SECTION 67 OF IT ACT 2008: Whoever publishes or transmits or causes to be published or transmitted in the electronic form, any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest or tends to deprave and corrupt persons shall be punished.
In the case of Niyaz Ahmad Khan vs State of U.P. and Another (APPLICATION U/S 482 No.- 28742 of 2021, the High Court of Allahabad learned bench led by HONOURABLE JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR SINGH disposed of the application filed by the applicant 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
By means of this application u/s 482 of the CrPC, the applicant has invoked the inherent jurisdiction of this Court for quashing the charge sheet, cognizance/summoning order, and proceedings of Case (State Vs. Niyaz Ahmad Khan), u/s 67 Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and Section 500 IPC, pending in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate.
FACTS OF THE CASE: The facts of the case are that the Awadesh Pandey (Senior Sub Inspector), filed a first information report against the applicant Niyaz Ahmad Khan and two others, Anil Sharma and Akhilesh Yadav Samarthak, at Police Station, under Section 67 Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 and Section 500 IPC.
The Investigating Officer filed a charge sheet against the applicant, which the learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, took cognizance of and summoned the applicant to face trial under Section 67 of the IT (Amendment) Act, 2008 and Section 500 of the IPC.
The charge sheet and summoning order in question are the subjects of the current application.
JUDGEMENT: With the aforesaid observations and directions, the Hon’ble Court disposed of the application. Along with that Registrar General of this Court was directed to communicate the facsimile of this order to the Secretary, Ministry of Information and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi, Chief Secretary, State of U.P., and the concerned Court below within a week.
JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY RIYA DWIVEDI
