Loni incident: Karnataka HC directs UP Police not to take any coercive steps against Twitter MD

By Amiya Kumar Kushwaha
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], June 24 : The Karnataka High Court on Thursday granted interim relief to Twitter Managing Director Manish Maheshwari and directed the Uttar Pradesh Police not to take any coercive steps against him till the next date of hearing in connection with the probe into the circulation of a viral video clip of an assault of an elderly man on the social media platform.
A bench of Justice G Narendra also clarified that if Ghaziabad Police want to examine the petitioner, Twitter MD, they can do it through virtual mode. The Court listed the matter for further hearing on June 29.
The High Court was hearing Manish Maheshwari's petition against a notice issued by Uttar Pradesh Police under Section 41A of CrPC, asking him to appear before the police.
It noted that notice under Section 41 can be issued against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has been received but the petitioner has nothing to do with the alleged offence.
The High Court noted that the petitioner was in charge of marketing and sales of the company Twitter.
Senior Advocate C V Nagesh, appearing for Twitter MD Manish Maheshwari, informed the Court that he is an employee of the Twitter company and he is not responsible for uploading the alleged video.
The Court noted that the petitioner case is that he has replied to notice issued under Section 160 CrPC earlier but now notice under section 41A CrPC has virtually put him in the shoes of an accused.
Appearing for the Uttar Pradesh Police, Advocate Prasanna Kumar submitted that the petition is not maintainable.
Manish Maheshwari's counsel told Karnataka High Court about he is an employee of the organisation and have nothing to do with the offence.
Manish Maheshwari's counsel said that his client is living in Banglore. The counsel said Supreme Court and High Court has said that statement can be recorded through video-conferencing but the Ghaziabad Police want his personal presence
The Ghaziabad Police on Monday directed Manish Maheshwari, to appear in person on June 24 at the Loni Border Police Station, in connection with the probe into the circulation of a viral video clip of an assault of an elderly man on the social media platform.
Maheshwari was summoned after his reply to a notice the Ghaziabad Police had served him last week in which he was asked to report at the Loni Border police station within seven days to get his statement recorded in the case.
The Uttar Pradesh Police on June 16, filed FIR against nine entities, including Twitter India in connection with the Loni incident.
In the FIR, the police had said, "There is no communal angle to the incident in Loni where a man was thrashed and his beard was chopped off. The following entities -- The Wire, Rana Ayyub, Mohammad Zubair, Dr Shama Mohammed, Saba Naqvi, Maskoor Usmani, Salman Nizami -- without checking the fact, started giving communal colour to the incident on Twitter and suddenly they started spreading messages to disrupt the peace and bring differences between the religious communities."