Information Technology Act, 2000 — An Overview, With Emphasis on Section 66A

The Information Technology Act, 2000 is India's principal cyber law. It gives legal recognition to electronic records and electronic/digital signatures (so that an electronic document and an e-signed agreement carry the same legal standing as their paper equivalents), facilitates e-governance and e-commerce, and defines a range of cyber offences and their penalties. The Act was substantially widened by the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008, which added, among other things, Sections 66 (hacking with a computer resource), 66C (identity theft), 66D (cheating by personation using a computer resource), an amended Section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material electronically), and — the provision this syllabus asks for specific emphasis on — Section 66A.

Section 66A — a historical study, not current law. As originally enacted by the 2008 Amendment, Section 66A punished sending, by a computer resource or communication device, information that was "grossly offensive," had a "menacing character," or was known to be false and sent to cause annoyance, inconvenience, danger, or ill will — with imprisonment of up to three years and a fine. In practice, the section's wording was extremely broad and was used in a number of widely reported cases to arrest people over ordinary social-media posts and comments.