Ghaziabad 'assault' Video | Karnataka HC Postpones Twitter India MD's appeal hearing to July 5

Karnataka High Court will hear the criminal case against Twitter India Managing Director Manish Maheshwari related to the Ghaziabad 'assault' video sharing case on July 5.

Last week on June 24, Maheshwari was granted interim relief by the Karnataka High Court where UP Police were ordered to not to take any coercive action against the Twitter India head till June 29. The case now has been pushed to next week.

The interim relief came on the day when Maheshwari was scheduled to appear before a police station in Ghaziabad's Loni, where a case has been registered against him.

Twitter India was named as an accused in the case filed by Ghaziabad police on June 15 against several persons who shared the video of an assault on a 65-year-old person in Ghaziabad. The accused have been charged with attempt to disrupt communal harmony.

The video, which emerged earlier this 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.

The police, citing their preliminary probe, have denied the communal angle. They claimed that he was attacked by people who had allegedly taken "tabeez (amulet)" from him. Nine persons have so far been arrested for allegedly assaulting him. Their identities have been disclosed by the police as follows - Kalloo Gurjar, Parvesh Gurjar, Adil, Intezaar, Saddam, Himanshu, Anas, Shavez and Babu

Apart from Twitter India, others named in the complaint are - news website The Wire, Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani, Shama Mohamed and journalists Mohammed Zubair, Saba Naqvi and Rana Ayyub.

Government and Twitter

On June 28, Maheshwari was named in another FIR since Twitter site incorrectly showing Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh as a separate country. He was also booked under Indian Penal Code Section 505 (2), for public mischief and Section 74 of the Information Technology Act, which deals with publication for fraudulent purpose.

These incidents come at a time when the US microblogging platform is at loggerheads with the government over compliance with the new IT rules that came into effect on May 26. Earlier, the company’s interim grievance officer Dharmendra Chatur quit and the firm is yet to appoint chief compliance and nodal officer. The firm currently names the US-based Jeremy Kessel as the grievance officer.

India is one of the largest markets for Twitter with about 17.5 million users.