Explain arrest for Facebook post, top court tells state

SC, however, questioned the term "to the satisfaction" of a senior police officer. It said this entailed a wide and vague connotation. To this, AG said hence the court intervention was required.

The bench also issued notices to the governments of West Bengal, Delhi and Puducherry after senior lawyer Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for petitioner Shreya Singhal, sought to make the states party to the case in the wake of similar arrests there.

The PIL cites arrest of a professor of Jadavpur University in West Bengal for allegedly posting online a cartoon showing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in poor light. Similarly, a businessman was arrested by Puducherry Police for making an allegation on Twitter against a Tamil Nadu politician.

Rohatgi said Delhi must be made a party to the case since it was the national capital and the petitioner its resident.

SC asked the state governments to respond within four weeks and posted the matter for hearing after six weeks.

The court also admitted a plea of Aseem Trivedi, arrested in Mumbai in September on sedition charges for allegedly mocking the Constitution, against section 66A. The cartoonist said the law was being used to curb freedom.

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