SC notice to Delhi panel on FB India MD's plea against summons
Dec 03, 2020
New Delhi [India], December 3 : The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Delhi Assembly's Peace and Harmony Committee as it wanted to become a party to the petition filed by Facebook India Vice President and Managing Director Ajit Mohan challenging the panel's summons against him.
A bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, issued notice to the intervener committee and sought its reply returnable in four weeks.
The bench also said that the rejoinder has to be filed within two weeks and fixed the matter for further hearing in the third week of January 2021.
Ajit Mohan had moved the top court challenging two summons issued by the Delhi Legislative Assembly Committee against him -- on September 10 and 18 -- on the grounds that the panel violated the fundamental rights of the petitioner under Article 19(1)(a) and Article 21, guaranteed under part III of the Indian Constitution.
Mohan has sought directions to quash the two summons in the matter.
Earlier, the panel had served notices to Ajit Mohan for his presence before the Committee on September 23 in connection with the alleged "intentional omission and deliberate inaction on the part of social media platform" with respect to hate speeches in connection with the Delhi violence, which took place in the national capital in February this year.
