The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it is a matter of serious concern that Section 66A of the Information Technology Act was still being used, though it has been declared as unconstitutional in 2015.
Section 66A made sending of offensive messages through a computer device for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will etc., as punishable offence with up to three years of jail and a fine.
The top court had declared the provision as unconstitutional in 2015.
On Tuesday, a bench of Chief Justice U U Lalit and S Ravindra Bhat asked the Union government to impress upon States against use of the provision.
The court's direction came as senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for the PUCL, submitted details of the cases lodged under Section 66A of the IT Act even after the judgement of Shreya Singhal case.
The court issued notice to all States and High Courts and asked the Centre to get in touch with the Chief Secretaries of the States to take remedial measures as soon as possible.
The court fixed the matter for consideration after three weeks.