HC quashes UP police notice to Twitter exec

BENGALURU: The Karnataka high court on Friday cancelled a notice by the Uttar Pradesh police that ordered Bengaluru-based Twitter India managing director Manish Maheshwari to appear in person for questioning in connection with the video of an assault on an elderly man in Ghaziabad’s Loni in June, and told the police to either record his statement as a witness via video conference or send a team to Bengaluru.

The high court said the notice issued to Maheshwari under Section 41A of the criminal procedure code (CRPC) must be read as a notice under Section 160. A notice under Section 160 is sent to question a witness, who they believe may be aware of facts related to a complaint. A notice under section 41A, however, is sent to summon a party named in a complaint. Maheshwari interpreted the change in the section under which he was being summoned to imply that he could also be arrested and approached the high court against it.

“The provisions of the statute cannot be permitted to become tools of harassment. The respondent has not placed even an iota of material which would prima facie show involvement of the petitioner. In that view of the matter, the petitioner has made out a case. Section 41A notice is issued by mala fide and the petition is maintainable. The Annexure

A1 notice is quashed”, justice G Narender said in his order.

“The invocation of Section 41A was resorted to as an arm-twisting method after Maheshwari did not respond to initial notice under Section 160 CRPC,” the bench observed.

The judge noted that Maheshwari was not arraigned as an accused in the case registered by the Ghaziabad police on June 15 over a video that alleged an elderly Muslim man in Ghaziabad was a victim of hate crime. Police said their investigation later revealed that the incident was over a personal dispute and booked nine people, including Twitter India, for allegedly circulating false information to fan communal tension.

Friday’s Karnataka high court order also found merit in Maheshwari’s contention that the firm and its employees do not have control over the data of Twitter users. “Twitter Inc is a parent company. We have absolutely nothing to do with it. Twitter India is an independent organisation and independent institution,” CV Nagesh, Maheshwari’s counsel, told the court when asked whether the social media giant could be called a “parent company.”

The FIR against Twitter came against the backdrop of the Centre escalating conflict with Twitter over compliance with a new set of rules notified in February that demanded extra due diligence from social media intermediaries.