KARNATAKA HC TO PRONOUNCE ORDER ON TWITTER INDIA MD PLEA ON JULY 20

BENGALURU: The Karnataka high court, which is hearing Twitter India managing director Manish Maheshwari’s plea against the notice issued by the Uttar Pradesh Police to appear before them in person, said on Tuesday that it will dictate its order on July 20.

During the hearing on Tuesday, justice G Narendar said he would dictate the order next Tuesday. He said he would go through the citations in detail with regard to the territorial jurisdiction of police.

The Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) police issued the notice under section 41(A) of the CrPC on June 21 asking him to report at the Loni Border police station at 10.30am on June 24.

Maheshwari had moved the Karnataka high court as he lives in Bengaluru in Karnataka.

On June 24, the high court, in an interim order, restrained the Ghaziabad Police from initiating

any coercive action against him.

Justice Narendar had also maintained that if the police wanted to examine him, they could do so through virtual mode. The Ghaziabad Police, on June 15, booked Twitter Inc, Twitter India, news website The Wire, journalists Mohammed Zubair and Rana Ayyub, besides Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani, Shama Mohamed and writer Saba Naqvi. They were booked over the circulation of a video in which an elderly man, Abdul Shamad Saifi, alleges he was thrashed by some young men who also asked him to chant ‘’Jai Shri Ram’’ on June 5.

According to police, the video was shared to cause communal unrest as their investigation revealed that the incident was over a personal dispute. The Loni assault video, which went viral on social media, reportedly shows a Muslim man being assaulted and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram”, with the miscreants also chopping off his beard.

Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari has been held accountable for the video that was shared on the social media platform, which the prosecution said fanned communal tension. The defense, on the other hand, argued that Maheshwari is merely an employee at Twitter, a company managed from the United States, and as such cannot be held accountable for a video uploaded by any user on the platform.

“Who am I? An employee,” Maheshwari submitted in his petition to the Karnataka high court, adding, “Twitter is not controlled or administered by me.”

The UP government says Maheshwari is to be held accountable for the video since he, being the managing director of Twitter India, is a representative for the firm.