Political remarks fine, but not religious: Govt to SC

R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, February 26 

The government today assured the Supreme Court that action would be taken only against persons posting religiously offensive or grossly menacing material on the net, and not against those making politically objectionable content.

“This government is clear that political debates, protests, comments or discourses will not be treated as obnoxious, grossly menacing or offensive” as defined in Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta said while arguing before a Bench comprising Justices J Chelameswar and RF Nariman. Under the legal provision, offenders could be jailed for a maximum period of three years and slapped with a fine. 

But the government was concerned with contents offending religious sentiments, particularly those pertaining to the Quran, Bible or Gita or any other religious texts or symbols, besides other grossly offensive material, Mehta said.