Karnataka HC quashes UP Police’s notice summoning Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari
It further said that the police can either do the enquiry virtually or meet the petitioner at his residence or office address in Bengaluru.
FollowKarnataka High Court has quashed a notice by the Uttar Pradesh Police against Twitter MD Manish Maheshwari in relation to an FIR registered over videos posted on the microblogging platform showing the assault of a Muslim man in Ghaziabad.
The high court has allowed UP Police to record his statement via virtual mode or by visiting his office or home.
Twitter India was named as one of the accused in the case filed by the Ghaziabad police on June 15 for sharing a video of an assault on a 65-year-old person in the city.
The High Court said that the UP Police issued the coercive notice without ascertaining if Manish Maheshwari, the MD of Twitter Communications India Private Ltd (TCIPL), had any control over the contents posted in Twitter.
Twitter India was named as one of the accused in the case filed by the Ghaziabad police on June 15 for sharing a video of an assault on a 65-year-old person in the city.
The video, which emerged earlier that month, showed miscreants attacking a senior citizen, identified as Abdul Samad Saifi, and cutting off his beard. In another video, the elderly man claimed he was assaulted due to his religion.
Appearing on behalf of Maheshwari before the single bench of Justice G Narendar in the Karnataka High Court, his counsel C V Nagesh had contended that the notice under Section 41 -A of the CrPC was issued "without jurisdiction, without the sanction of law." He claimed that the first notice was issued on June 17 under Section 160 of the CrPC.
Maheshwari also said that he was a resident and worked from Bengaluru, which was not under the jurisdiction of the Uttar Pradesh police. The notice sent to him to appear before the police was not authorised under the law. It was also argued that Twitter India was not an intermediary and had no control over the content on the platform.
The Uttar Pradesh police denied the claims and said that if Maheshwari was Twitter India managing director, he would have to cooperate with the inquiry.
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