Delhi HC seeks Centre, Rana Ayyub's response on plea over her tweets

The Delhi High Court sought responses from the Centre and Rana Ayyub on a plea to remove her alleged derogatory tweets. A petitioner filed the plea, citing an FIR and a trial court order that was not complied with. The next hearing is on May 19.

High Court Seeks Response on Plea

The Delhi High Court on Friday sought a response from the Central Government and Rana Ayyub on a plea seeking the taking down of tweets allegedly posted by her. A petition has been filed seeking the removal of the tweets. Social media platform X filed its response in the high court. The next date is May 19.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav heard the arguments by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma on behalf of the Delhi police, who submitted that a request has been sent to the concerned ministry to take action on the tweets. Delhi police submitted that they have informed the concerned ministry that they would take action as per law. Twitter has filed its reply.

Petitioner's Allegations and Court Observations

It is alleged that the tweets are against Hindu deities, Veer Savarkar and the Indian Army. During the hearing, Advocate Makrand D Adkar appeared for petitioner Amita Sachdeva. They have alleged that tweets are derogatory and objectionable.

The counsel for Rana Ayyub submitted that the petition is not maintainable and will file the response on maintainability. The high court had called the tweets derogatory, inflammatory and communal. It is stressed by the petitioner that despite the order of the trial court, these tweets have not been deleted.

Background of the Complaint and FIR

The Saket court had directed the registration of an FIR in this matter on the complaint moved by Amita Sachdeva. Meanwhile, on 25.01.2025, the Saket court had ordered to register a case under sections 153A, 295A, and 505 IPC on the complaint by Amita Sachdeva.

Pursuant to the court order, a case on January 27, 2025, under sections 153A, 295A, and 505 IPC has been registered at the police station Cyber South District.

Specific Tweets Cited in Complaint

The complainant had alleged that an individual named Rana Ayyub repeatedly used her social media account, specifically Twitter (@RanaAyyub), to post offensive and derogatory comments targeting Hindu deities. According to the complainant's allegations, one such post by Rana Ayyub was made on May 29, 2015, wherein she allegedly defamed Veer Savarkar. It is also alleged that other tweets made by Ayyub contained offensive remarks about Sita, a revered Hindu deity, on March 13, 2013, and October 22, 2014. These posts have caused distress to the complainant, prompting her to file the complaint. (ANI)

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