This mention of punishment under Section 66A of IT Act by the UP police for sending three friend requests on FB is an old one - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 20, 2023
A post is being shared widely on social media with a claim that the Yogi Adityanath government has come up with a new law in UP. Under this law, anyone who sends a friend request three times to a girl will be put in jail for three years along with a fine of five lakh rupees. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Yogi Adityanath government in UP has brought a new law under which anyone who sends a friend request three times to a girl will be put in jail for three years along with a fine of five lakh rupees.
Fact: According to the news reports in 2013, a circular from the DGP has mentioned that if a girl complains and provides proofs of the multiple friend requests, then action can be taken under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act as it can come under cyber bullying. So, this is not a recent development, and is not brought by the Yogi Adityanath government. Also, Section 66A of the IT Act has been struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When we searched on the internet regarding the claim made in the post, we found similar posts being shared on social media from 2013. Some news agencies like ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ and ‘Jagran’ have also published similar news reports in 2013. According to the news reports, a circular from the DGP has mentioned that if a girl complains and provides proofs of the multiple friend requests, then the action can be taken under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act as it can come under cyber bullying. So, this is not a recent development and is not brought by the Yogi Adityanath government.
It should be noted that Section 66A of the IT Act has been struck down by Supreme Court in March 2015 in the Shreya Singhal vs. Union of India case. Even after SC struck down the Section 66A, the police were booking people under this section. So, recently in 2022, the SC has ordered States and their police forces to stop prosecutions under Section 66A of the IT Act.
To sum it up, this mention of punishment under Section 66A of IT Act by the UP police for sending three friend requests on FB is an old one. Also, Section 66A of IT Act is not applicable now.