Condemning the misuse of Section 66A of the IT Act, over 220 people from the city consisting of IT professionals, bloggers and the socially conscious, staged a protest at the Dharna Chowk near the Indira Park on Sunday evening. Organised by Swecha, a part of the Free Software Movement of India and Anonymous India, the protest gave out one message, loud and clear – Revise IT Act and do not contradict Article 19 (2) for freedom of speech for citizens in the country.
Over 24 such protests will be held all over the country. On Sunday, Hyderabad, Guntur and Bengaluru witnessed these protests and Kakinada, Vijaywada, Visakhapatnam, Pune, Chennai, Kozhikkode, Kannur and a few other places will hold similar protests in the first week of December.
Elaborating on this, Siddharth, executive general secretary of the association, says, “Swecha is protesting the existing IT Act, Section 66 A, which is directly contradicting Article 19 (2) of the Constitution. Arresting people for showing dissent against the government in the internet is a symbol of autocracy. Internet all these days has been a platform to discuss and share information and information can also be politics. Now that this sharing has gone to an extent where people are participating in the activities of the government, the government is getting scared that its functions are being questioned.”
He further adds, “There is an attack on Internet Freedom from many quarters. This is not just in protest of the arrest of the two girls in Mumbai. This is also about many such cases, where political force has outplayed citizens.
Like Aseem Trivedi, Air India crew members and others. The fact that they are suffering is something that cannot be let off and justice has to be done.”