UP govt moves Supreme Court against court relief to Twitter India head

By LE Desk

New Delhi, June 29, 2021: The Uttar Pradesh government has moved the Supreme Court against the order of the Karnataka High Court, granting interim protection from arrest to Twitter India executive Manish Maheshwari, in connection with the FIR filed by the state police over a video showing an attack on a Muslim man in Ghaziabad.

The Karnataka High Court’s order on Manish Maheshwari in relation to the FIR came last Thursday. The Uttar Pradesh police have claimed that the video was manipulated to present a skewed communal narrative and it was amplified by its spread on Twitter, the Hindustan Times reported.

Maheshwari has already moved a caveat in the top court for being heard when UP’s appeal is listed.

According to Maheshwari’s lawyer, the investigating officer issued a notice on June 17 under section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to Twitter India’s managing director but Maheshwari is not the managing director, reported the Hindustan Times.

Separately, Bajrang Dal has filed a complaint with police in Bulandshahr against Maheshwari for showing a wrong map of India on its website. One Amrita Tripathi has also been booked under section 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 74 of the IT (Amendment) Act, 2008. 

Bulandshahr senior superintendent of police (SSP) Santosh Kumar Singh said the FIR against officials of Twitter India was registered at the Khurja Nagar police station in Bulandshahr on the complaint of a local Bajrang Dal leader, HT said.

A map on Twitter’s careers page showed the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh outside India, triggering an outcry on social media even as the US company and the Centre are involved in a tussle over the firm’s compliance with new IT rules. Twitter has now taken the map off.

Before that, Maheshwari was questioned by the Delhi Police’s special cell in May over Twitter tagging BJP leader Sambit Patra’s post as “manipulated media”. Patra in that tweet said the Congress social media campaign orchestrated to show the government in a bad light. The Congress party claimed this “toolkit” was forged. Maheshwari said he is not responsible for such tagging.