( CNN ) India 's highest court has reversed a controversial law that gave the authorities sweeping powers to arrest and potentially jail people for comments posted on social networks and other Internet platforms . The Supreme Court ruled that Section 66A of the 2008 Information Technology Act was `` unconstitutional '' and `` hit at the root of liberty and freedom of expression , the two cardinal pillars of democracy . '' Under Section 66A , alleged offenders could face up to three years in jail for posting material that is `` grossly offensive , '' has `` menacing character , '' -- or perhaps even more ambiguously -- causes `` annoyance or inconvenience . '' The court said this wording was `` vague '' and could be `` misconstrued , '' according to Ranjeeta Rohatgi , an advocate who was present at the hearing in Delhi Tuesday . India 's cyber laws have ignited a furious debate about curbs on freedom of speech in recent years . In 2012 , a university professor was arrested for circulating a cartoon that poked fun at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee . The cartoon , which was a parody of a scene in a popular Indian movie , went viral on social media . He was charged with a range of offenses including defamation , insulting a woman and sending offensive messages from a computer . Mahapatra called the charges a misuse of the law `` in the name of surveillance , to curb democratic rights , freedom of speech and human rights of common people . '' A year earlier , Delhi went one step further with its digital crackdown when the so-called `` intermediary guidelines '' implicated web platforms themselves . The rules now require Internet companies to take down any content seen as `` disparaging , '' `` blasphemous , '' or `` defamatory '' within 36 hours of a user submitting a formal request for removal . In Mumbai , India 's financial center , police spokesman Dhananjay Kulkarni told CNN in February that some 650 posts and pages were blocked last year under these regulations . Google says in the last half of 2013 it removed 540 items from its pages in compliance with orders issued by Indian courts , government agencies , and law enforcement . It 's a similar story with Facebook . The social networking site took down nearly 5,000 pieces of content reported by the Indian government in the first half of 2014 . CNN 's Harmeet Shah Singh and Kunal Sehgal in Delhi , as well as Mackenzie Sigalos in Hong Kong contributed to this report .
Supreme Court rules Section 66A of the up to three years Information Technology Act was `` unconstitutional '' Offenders previously faced 2008 in jail for posting `` grossly offensive '' material . Court said this wording was vague and was misused by police .