The Allahabad High Court on Thursday quashed an FIR registered against a teacher, who was booked for his social media comment on the transparency of the PM Cares Fund collected for relief work amid Covid-19. Nand Lal Yadav was booked by the Uttar Pradesh Police under section 66A of the IT Act for his comment on Facebook.
Hearing a petition filed by Yadav, the division bench of Justice Manoj Mishra and Justice Anil Kumar gave the order to quash the FIR filed in Mirhachi police station area of Etah district. The report had been filed on the instruction of the senior superintendent of police (SSP), Etah.
The High Court expressed displeasure over the fact that the UP Police filed a case under sec 66A when the Supreme Court has stayed the registration of any case under it. The court summoned the investigating officer with the record considering the FIR as contempt of the Supreme Court.
Advocate Sunil Yadav, representing the teacher, said, “The Section 66A of the IT Act is a clear violation of freedom of expression and in the famous case of Shreya Singhal, the Supreme Court had declared section 66A illegal. Despite this, the police of Uttar Pradesh are persecuting the common people by filing a case under repealed section 66A. The court has quashed the FIR after hearing both the parties.”
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