Mumbai, Maharashtra
A few days before two women from Palghar " Shaheen Dhada, 21, and Rinu Srinivasan, 20 " were booked under Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act for posting a comment on a social networking site, the Mumbai police had approached the state home minister for changing the language of the act to avoid ambiguity.
"An oral submission had been made before the home minister, asking if the terminology of the act [Section 66A] could be drafted in another manner to avoid ambiguity in its application," said Niket Kaushik, additional commissioner of police, crime.
The home department was to make a proposal to the Centre (as the IT Act is a Central Act) when the Palghar incident took place, police sources said.
Sources said the suggestion had been made after junior-level officers in the cyber police station at BKC and the cyber crime investigation cell (CCIC) faced difficulties while investigating complaints attracting the provisions of Section 66A."Though it is one of the mildest sections under the IT Act, it is the most ambiguous," a source said.