The girl who had courage to drag Section 66 (A) law to court

"Someone needs to do something about it," says 21-year-old Shreya Singhal, who filed a PIL in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of Section 66A of the IT Act, Upasana Mukherjee reports.

"Someone needs to do something about it," says 21-year-old Shreya Singhal, who filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act.

Shreya-Singhal-filed-a-PIL-in-the-Supreme-Court-challenging-the-constitutional-validity-of-Section-66A-of-the-IT-Act

While following the news on the recent arrest of two Mumbai girls for posting comments on Facebook against the city's shutdown for Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's funeral, Shreya had a discussion with her mother Supreme Court advocate Manali Singhal and decided to take a stand. Shreya is the granddaughter of Orissa governor MC Bhandare and late Justice Sunanda Bhandare.

"People being arrested for voicing their opinions is a gross violation of their right to free speech guaranteed under the constitution," Shreya, who graduated from the University of Bristol in Astrophysics, said. No wonder she plans to pursue a legal vocation.

Asked about the deviation from astrophysics to law, Shreya says "I have been thinking about it all along.”

Having studied astrophysics, Shreya believes that her analytical and scientific bent of mind will help her pursue law. Although she adds a disclaimer that she "loves astrophysics".