The social media space is such that all types of opinions and comments keep floating around. Little do people contemplate on what they are expressing or what type of opinions is being freely aired by other netizens. This is leading to a not too healthy situation in respect to many things – women’s dignity; individual defamation; prank and fake posting; religious harmony as well as citizen safety.
Till recently there existed a section of the Information Technology (IT) Act that dealt with inappropriate content. That section was 66A. The section clearly stated among other things that – “if any person uses a computer resource or a communication device to transmit anything that is grossly offensive to the other” – he/she was committing a crime which was punishable with a sentence of 3 years. This section was rather loosely worded, as a result it was often misconstrued and frivolously used. The case of two teenage girls going to jail in Maharashtra after the sad demise of Shri Balasaheb Thakre was a case in point. Another was a case in Punjab when the son of the Agriculture Minister complained against the use of the word parrot for his father Shri Tota Singh in the social media. As a result two people, who included the PA of an Akali legislator and an NRI businessman, went to jail. Another case occurred when a youth sent a sms to a girl that said – “I love you”. The father of the girl read the message and was grossly offended with this transmission sent by the boy. He reported the matter with the police and the teenager was sent to jail under section 66A.
This defective use of section 66A was happening with rather alarming regularity and that was because the wordings of the section were such. Thus the Honorable Supreme Court of India took cognizance of the matter and set aside this section as they found it against the freedom of speech and expression as guaranteed in our Constitution. And rightly so too! In light of the above it should not be assumed that, now that there is no section 66A – one can write anything in the social media or express any opinion without any care or reservation whatsoever. The situation is far from that. The social media has a huge reach, millions can be contacted and that too in a fraction of a second! This is thus a two edged sword – it cuts both ways. It can provide rapid transmission of ideas and news far and wide but at the same time false, misleading or totally fake information circulated on this media can cause huge damage to a particular individual, to an entire community, nation as a whole or even the entire globe – as the case maybe.
Hence individual citizens should have clarity in their minds that there still exist a huge number of sections which will be brought to bear upon him or her if they do wrongful posting and activity in the cyber space. Some examples are – demotion (499 Indian Penal Code – IPC); using abusive language (67 IT Act, 294 IPC); Morphing (Indecent Representation of Women’s Act); Obscenity (67, 67A, 67B IT Act); Criminal Intimidation (506 IPC); Insulting Modesty of a women (509 IPC); Hurting religious sentiments (153A IPC) and a host of other sections exist for inappropriate posting and activities in the virtual world.
Thus all citizens must be aware that the above sections will be and are used to curb all sorts of transgressions in the cyber space. So it is best that individuals remain all the time alert and aware of their expressions in the cyber space. As they say – prevention is always better than cure. So too in the social media one can easily say – think well and hard before you post! You never know when a post or transmission done in a hurry – will land you in trouble! There is no better judge of one’s actions than one oneself! The yardsticks that can be effectively used in such a situation are very simple. Just imagine how you will feel if someone says the same about you; review in your mind whether you will hurt anyone with such a post; how could such a post effect your future; what does such a post say about you; could this get you into trouble and lastly will others in your life find what you am saying in cyber space appropriate? If the answer to all the above questions is positive – then go ahead and post or transmit the content. Otherwise avoid such an action. Because it is very obvious that a well thought over decision is generally right and a decision taken in a hurry is often faulty. Thus give yourself the time and space to think over what you post, forward and like in the cyber space. That is the best and only way to protect yourself from harm and others from pain and suffering!
