Ghaziabad 'assault' video case | 'No coercive action' against Twitter India MD, Karnataka HC grants interim relief

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Twitter India Managing Director Manish Maheshwari was granted interim relief by the Karnataka High Court on June 24, in the Ghaziabad 'assault' video sharing case. The court has directed the UP Police to not to take any coercive action against Maheshwari.

The proceedings in the case would be next heard by the Karnataka HC on June 29. The interim relief comes 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.

Maheshwari's counsel told the bench that he is an employee of Twitter and has no relation to the offence committed in Ghaziabad. Further, the counsel argued that the UP Police cannot force him to be present in-person as the Supreme Court and high courts have, on earlier occasions, allowed the recording of statements through video conferencing.

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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.

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.

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.