S 66 A of IT Act, 2000: 2 (Court verdict)

സാമൂഹിക മാധ്യമങ്ങളില്‍ അപകീര്‍ത്തികരമായ പരാമര്‍ശം നടത്തുന്നവര്‍ക്കെതിരെ കര്‍ശന നടപടികള്‍ വ്യവസ്ഥ ചെയ്യുന്നതാണ് ഐ.ടി നിയമത്തിലെ 66 എ വകുപ്പ്. ഈ വകുപ്പ് പോലീസ് ദുരുപയോഗം ചെയ്യുന്നെന്നും റദ്ദാക്കണമെന്നും ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ട് ഒരു കൂട്ടം സംഘടനകള്‍ നല്‍കിയ ഹരജിയിലാണ് ഇന്നത്തെ കോടതി വിധി.

ഭരണഘടന നല്‍കുന്ന അഭിപ്രായ സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തിന് നിയന്ത്രണം ഏര്‍പ്പെടുത്താനാവില്ലെന്ന് വ്യക്തമാക്കി കൊണ്ട് കേന്ദ്ര സര്‍ക്കാരിന്റെ ഐ.ടി നിയമത്തിലെ 66 എ വകുപ്പ് സുപ്രീംകോടതി റദ്ദാക്കി. അഭിപ്രായ സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തിന്‍ മേലുള്ള കടന്നു കയറ്റമാണ് പ്രസ്തുത വകുപ്പെന്ന് ചൂണ്ടിക്കാട്ടിയാണ് ജസ്റ്റിസുമാരായ ജെ.ചെലമേശ്വര്‍, ആര്‍.എഫ് നരിമാന്‍ എന്നിവരടങ്ങിയ ബെഞ്ചിന്റെ സുപ്രധാന വിധി.

ഇതോടൊപ്പം കേരളാ പോലീസിലെ 118 ഡി വകുപ്പും കോടതി റദ്ദാക്കിയിട്ടുണ്ട്. ഫോണിലൂടെയോ മറ്റേതെങ്കിലും രീതികളിലോ വ്യക്തികളെ ശല്യപ്പെടുത്തുന്നതിന് പിഴ ശിക്ഷ ലഭിക്കാവുന്ന വകുപ്പാണ് ഇത്. ഈ രണ്ടു വകുപ്പുകളും തുല്യമാണെന്ന് കോടതി ചൂണ്ടിക്കാട്ടി.

വിവര സാങ്കേതിക നിയമം 66 എ വകുപ്പ് തുടക്കം മുതല്‍ വിവാദങ്ങളുടെ തോഴനായിരുന്നു. വിമര്‍ശകരെ നേരിടാന്‍ ഭരണകൂടവും രാഷ്ട്രീയ നേതാക്കളും വളരെയധികം ദുരുപയോഗിച്ച വകുപ്പാണിത്. അഭിപ്രായ സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യം ഭരണഘടന ഉറപ്പാക്കുന്ന ജനാധിപത്യ നാട്ടില്‍ ഒരു ഫേസ്ബുക്ക് പോസ്റ്റിനു നല്‍കുന്ന കമന്റോ ലൈക്കോ പോലും തെറ്റായി കണ്ട് പൗരന്മാരെ ഇരുമ്പഴിക്കുള്ളിലാക്കാന്‍ ഭരണകൂടത്തിന് കഴിഞ്ഞൂ. എല്ലാ കേസുകളിലും പൗരന്മാരുടെ രക്ഷയ്ക്ക് കോടതി ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നുവെന്നതാണ് ശ്രദ്ധേയമായ മറ്റൊരു കാര്യം. ഭരണകൂടം അഴിക്കുള്ളിലാക്കിയവര്‍ക്ക് കോടതി മോചനം നല്‍കി.

ശിവസേന തലവനായിരുന്നു ബാല്‍ താക്കറെയുടെ മരണത്തെ തുടര്‍ന്ന് മുംബൈയില്‍ ബന്ദ് ആചരിക്കാന്‍ ആഹ്വാനം ചെയ്തതിനെതിരെ ഫേസ് ബുക്കില്‍ പോസ്റ്റിട്ട ഷഹീന്‍ ദാദ എന്ന പെണ്‍കുട്ടിയെയും അത് ലൈക്ക് ചെയ്ത മലയാളിയായ റീനു ശ്രീനിവാസനെയും അറസ്റ്റു ചെയ്തിരുന്നു. ഇതേ തുടര്‍ന്നാണ് നിയമവിദ്യാര്‍ത്ഥി ശ്രേയ സിംഗാള്‍ ഐ.ടി ആക്ടിലെ 66 എ റദ്ദാക്കണമെന്നാവശ്യപ്പെട്ട് സുപ്രീംകോടതിയെ സമീപിച്ചത്.

അതേസമയം, മതവൈരം വളര്‍ത്തുന്ന തരത്തിലോ വിദേശ രാജ്യങ്ങളുമായുള്ള ബന്ധത്തെ ബാധിക്കുന്ന തരത്തിലോ ഉള്ള കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിക്കുന്ന വെബ്‌സൈറ്റുകള്‍ ബ്‌ളോക്ക് ചെയ്യാനും കോടതി കേന്ദ്രത്തിന് അനുമതി നല്‍കിയിട്ടുണ്ട്.

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• Seethu Deepa, DrNidhi Alex Ninan and 2 others like this.
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  Jyothi Krishna Sir thanks a lot for such information about supreme court ruling n its journal

  March 24 at 11:56pm · Unlike · 1
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  Prof. Alex Odikandathil Ph.D. Holding Section 118 (d) of the Kerala Police Act as "unconstituional" for being violative of fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression, the apex court said "what has been said about Section 66 A would apply directly to it also".
  "Section 118(d) of the Kerala Police Act is struck down being violative of Article 19(1)(a) and not saved by Article 19(2)," the bench constituting justices J Chelameswar and R F Nariman said. Long Live Indian Democracy!

S 66 A of IT Act, 2000: 1

We should be extremely proud of our prestigious courts though at times we have reasons to complain. 

Now the Supreme Court is examining the constitutional validity of Section 66 A. What is Section 66A of the amended Indian Information Technology (IT Act) Act, 2000?

Section 66 A defines the punishment for sending “offensive” messages through a computer or any other communication device like a mobile phone or a tablet. A conviction can fetch a maximum of three years in jail and a fine.

What is the problem with that?

The vagueness about what is “offensive”. The word has a very wide connotation, and is open to distinctive, varied interpretations. It is subjective, and what may be innocuous for one person, may lead to a complaint from someone else and, consequently, an arrest under Section 66 A if the police prima facie accepts the latter person’s view.
But why should it be treated any different than libel, at the most?

And how did the controversy begin?

The first petition came up in the court following the arrest of two girls in Maharashtra by Thane Police in November 2012 over a Facebook post. The girls had made comments on the shutdown of Mumbai for the funeral of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. The arrests triggered outrage from all quarters over the manner in which the cyber law was used. And now the case reported above has come up.

A batch of petitions have alleged that the section tramples upon the Fundamental Right to freedom of speech and expression, and asked that it be declared unconstitutional.

That's why on Tuesday, the Supreme Court gave the government a week to clarify its stand on Section 66A. 
We demand, "QUASH 66 A of the IT Act that NOW". Thanks.

പീഡിപ്പിക്കുക

അപ്പോൾ, പ്രചാരണ വിഭാഗം ചെയർമാൻ മെത്രാനും കണ്‍വീനർ പുരോഹിതനും ആണെങ്കിൽ പോലും, ഈ പീഡനക്കഥകൾ എല്ലാമൊന്നും സത്യമല്ലെന്ന് ഇനി ഞാൻ പറയേണ്ടല്ലോ! ഒപ്പം, "പീഡിപ്പിക്കുക" എന്ന വാക്കിനു "ബലാൽസംഗം"  എന്ന പുതിയ അർത്ഥം കണ്ട്പിടിച്ചു നമ്മുടെ ഭാഷാ ശാഖയെ പ്രബുദ്ധമാക്കിയ മലയാള പത്രക്കാരെ നമിക്കുന്നു. ഹിറ്റ്ലർ സർവ്വമാന ജൂതന്മാരെയും  പീഡിപ്പിച്ചതു പഠിച്ചു ചരിത്ര വിദ്യാർധികളും ഫറവോൻ  മൊത്തം ഇസ്രയേൽ മക്കളെയും പീഡിപ്പിച്ചതായി വായിച്ചു ക്രിസ്ത്യാനി കുട്ടികളും  ഉറക്കത്തിൽ പോലും ദിനംപ്രതി ഞെട്ടിക്കൊണ്ടിരിക്കയാണ്.
Based on the following story: 
http://keralaonlinenews.com/rape-case-accused-malayalam-news-111050.html/#cmt-2493543

All a sham?

And sham, in English, means a thing that is not what it's purported to be or to present something falsely as the truth.   

Now look: 

Genesis: 1, 26: Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 
27: God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 
28: God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."…  

Cross References: 

Matthew 19:4
"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'

Mark 10:6
"But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.'

1 Corinthians 11:7
A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.

Ephesians 4:24
and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians 3:10
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Genesis 5:1
This is the written account of Adam's family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God.

Genesis 9:6
"Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.

Deuteronomy 4:32
Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?

Ecclesiastes 7:29
This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 

Is the Mar Thoma church trying to recoup its much- eroded membership base with the women's lib (feminist) movement of the late 60's?

The Satanic Panic

Hey, how’d we get here? You can largely blame the Satanic Panic of the 80's and '90s, a convergence of class anxieties, sociological shifts, psychological fads, and pop culture trends that produced a society-wide fear of the sexual abuse of children at the hands of an underground network of Satanists masquerading as daycare operators.

As families shifted to dual-income households, young children were increasingly left in daycare or under strangers' supervision. The anxiety of surrendering children to others’ control coincided with the publication of the bestseller Michelle Remembers, in which a psychiatrist coerced allegedly submerged memories of sexual abuse at the hands of Satanists from a Canadian patient. The resulting hysteria was quickly amplified by daytime television specials hosted by Geraldo Rivera, Oprah Winfrey and Sally Jesse Raphael.

The accusations of Satanic ritual abuse at daycare facilities were mostly fictions, with the children’s memories almost always coaxed out during therapy sessions. Hundreds were charged, even as most prosecutions ended without convictions and studies debunked claims of shadowy Satanic networks. The occasional convictions are still being nullified, some after the wrongly accused spent decades in jail. In possibly the most famous case involving supposed ritualistic Satanic violence, the three teens who became known as the 'West Memphis Three' were freed in 2011 after 18 years in prison for allegedly murdering two boys in a Satanic ritual, the culmination of the conflagration of fears that had begun 30 years prior to it.

Ariel Sharon, the Israeli PM, has died. If the “Ariel Sharon Prophecy” of Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri is real, then the time clock has started for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri was a renowned Mizrahi Haredi rabbi and Kabbalist who was best known for having read and memorized the Bible. His orthodox Jewish followers believed that his teachings were the most profound and that nobody had experienced a greater devotion to reading and studying the Torah than Kaduri, having lived from 108-118 years depending on which date of birth is authentic before his death in 2006.  If the interpretations of the last note from a dying man are to be believed, it indeed means something. Or, is it just another sequel to the Satanic Panic? Now, please cut, paste and watch:
http://youtu.be/k0DTT3u2JZ8
Thanks.

Economy x (Vs.) Welfare = Economic Development.

Economists and business leaders have long argued that the way to improve low-income workers’ standard of living is to grow the economy. This worked for a while after World War II. However, since the early to mid-70's, productivity and national income have increased, but wages haven’t. For eg., the gross domestic product of the United States was 16.77 trillion dollars in 2013. If you break this down per person, each American produced $140,000 in goods. Yet most people only see a small percentage of this in their wages. The median wage was $27,851 in 2013 which means 50% of working adults made $27,851 or less in the United States.
If each American made half of what was produced, the median salary would have been $70,000. Now, clearly, there are other costs involved: still why aren't people paid more? Why do many jobs pay so little?

Christopher Jencks, professor of social policy at Harvard, says it’s really quite simple. He writes:
A market economy is not designed to ensure that workers get paid what other people think they deserve. The logic of the market is that a worker should be paid the smallest amount to make sure the work gets done and  is not intended to pay them what they deserve. It's not meant to pay people what would make a better life for them. It's to pay the absolute minimum that the employer can get away with. Thanks.

God Save America!

How can Gilead Sciences charge $84,000 for a drug that costs less than $300?

America is the land of breakthrough science -- and equally of health care scams. The two seem to go hand in hand in the case of the new hepatitis C virus (HCV) cure named sofosbuvir, sold under the brand name Sovaldi by the drug company Gilead Sciences. There is no question that Solvadi is a godsend- a lifesaver for millions of Americans, and perhaps someday for hundreds of millions of people around the world infected by Hepatitis C. Yet Sovaldi is also the poster child of a U.S. health care system that is being bankrupted by greed, lobbying and indefensible policies on drug pricing.

Here are the basic facts:
In Dec., 2013, the Food and Drug Administration approved Sovaldi, and another formulation, Harvoni, which is sofosbuvir used in combination with another drug. Gilead set the price for a course of 12-week treatment of Sovaldi at $84,000, amounting to $1,000 per pill. Again, Gilead set the price of Harvoni at $94,000.

According to researchers at Liverpool University, the actual production costs of Sovaldi for the 12-week course is in the range $68-$136. Indeed, generic sofosbuvir is currently being marketed by India at $300 per treatment course, after India refused to grant Gilead a patent for the Indian market.

How can Gilead Sciences charge $84,000 for a drug that costs less than $300 to produce? First, Gilead's patent on sofosbuvir runs until 2028, giving it a monopoly in the U.S. market. Second, a range of Federal and state government programs will cover the $84,000 for a sizeable number of patients. For those not covered by government programs, some will be covered by private insurance, a few will pay out of pocket, and still others will likely die because they lack coverage and can't afford the treatment. God Save America!