One compelling feature of the ongoing cases against sections of the IT Act is that the court is examining infirmity in the law, and not individual cases of infirmity in its implementation. Yesterday, when Justice Bobde pointed this out to Gopal Sankaranarayan, saying that "Nobody is defending the abuse of the law", Sankaranarayan, representing the petitioner Anoop K, said that: "There was no abuse of power. Palghar (case) was not an abuse of power, the law itself is abusive. Can the police officer wriggle out of doing what the law requires him to do? The law is abusive." Justice Bobde pointed out, on Section 69, that the converse is that one would allow grossly offensive content to be permitted on the Internet. Sankarnarayan responded, saying that by merely copypasting, the government is not satisfying the grounds of Article 19(2) of…
