Who is Shreya Singhal? Thank her for 66A being squashed

In a landmark move the Supreme Court clamped down on any effort to interfere with internet freedom. It squashed Section 66A which could jail people for speaking out on the internet or for posting comments that could be potentially 'offensive' to some sections of society. The success of this development has a face - that of young Shreya Singhal who filed a PIL challenging 66A of the IT Act and saw victory. Here are 5 things you need to know about this young woman.

• Shreya comes from a family of lawyers. She was 21 when she filed a petition in 2012 after two young women were arrested for posting comments critical of the total shutdown in Mumbai after the death of Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena chief.
• The 23 year-old lawyer is a resident of Delhi and studied in UK and was back in India to apply for law schools when she filed the PIL.
• Singhal's belief: "Expressing your views is something everyone does every day. If this goes on, we will have a mute society.”

• An astrophysics graduate at Bristol University, Singhal revealed that her mother, Manali, who is a Supreme Court lawyer herself, encouraged her to file the PIL seeing her daughter enraged over the arrests.

Shaheen Dhada (left) and Renu Srinivasan, who were arrested for posting 'offensive' material on Facebook
Picture By: NPR

• In November 2012, she proceeded to file the PIL following the arrests made in connection with ‘offensive comments’ made a by a young woman on Facebook. She challenged the Act and told Live Mint: “The courts are the one place where every citizen can go. If you say something in a newspaper or on TV, that’s fine, but if you say it on Facebook, you get arrested... I think there are so many people in India who are tech-savvy and very vocal about their views. It’s a natural revolution.”

• Having fought in the court for over two years and finding support in NGOs: Common Cause, People Union for Civil Liberty and individuals including self-exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, Shreya was finally successful in having 66A completely struck down.

We here at SheThePeople.TV applaud her efforts and hope she continues to break barriers to help India become the democratic nation, we all feel proud to be a part of.
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