Delhi HC dismisses plea seeking Elon Musk's impleadment with Rs 25000 cost
Nov 04, 2022
New Delhi [India], November 4 : The Delhi High Court has dismissed an application seeking impleadment of Elon Musk in a plea concerning the suspension of the Twitter account of a woman with a cost of Rs 25,000.
While dismissing the plea, Justice Yashwant Varma said, "The application is thoroughly misconceived. The same is dismissed with a Rs 25,000 cost."
The counsel for applicant Dimple Kaul said that he wanted to press this application as Elon Musk is not only the director but also a shareholder in the company.
"Are you serious to pursue this application?" Justice Varma asked the counsel.
Justice Yashwant Varma said, "The application is thoroughly misconceived. It cannot possibly be disputed that the corporate entity (Twitter) already stands represented. There is no account for the application to be moved. The same is dismissed with Rs 25 thousand cost."
Senior advocate Sajan Poovaiya, who appeared on the behalf of Twitter had submitted that the company is duly represented.
A plea had been moved to implead Elon Musk as respondent in an ongoing matter related to the suspension of the Twitter account of a woman. Musk took over Twitter last month.
This plea was moved on behalf of Dimple Kaul and was listed for hearing before the bench of Justice Yashwant Varma.
Kaul's plea was moved through advocate Mukesh Sharma seeking an order allowing the present application by impleading Elon Musk as the Respondent No.3 in the petition.
The plea moved on behalf of Dimple Kaul stated that on October 27, 2022, Twitter Inc. has been moved into the private hands of Elon Musk. As of now, shares of the same are also not being traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
It was further submitted that Elon Musk has a very different stand on free speech whereby his opinion is that as long as speech does not violate the law of the country in question, the same should not be curtailed by Twitter.
Tweets in this regard made from his verified Twitter handle have been annexed with the plea.
The plea has provided the addresses where Elon Musk may be served a notice. As well as Twitter handle @elonmusk be served with a copy of the petition on his address, email ID as well as via Twitter handle and he be impleaded as a party to the petition so that his stand can be ascertained, the plea stated.
The Delhi High court on January 31 issued a notice to Twitter on Dimple Kaul's petition challenging the suspension of her account. She alleged that the account was suspended without giving any prior warning and any opportunity of being heard.
The Petition further said that Twitter performs a public function and is bound by Section 79 of the Information Technology Act 2000 and Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
It was further stated that the suspension is in violation of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India as it affects the right to free speech.
Petition moved by Dimple Kaul said that her Twitter handle had more than 2,55,000 followers, which was used for posting educational content related to different subjects including literature, women's rights, Indic culture, non-violence, equality, politics and history.
