Karnataka HC defers order in Twitter India case

Bengaluru: The Karnataka high court on Tuesday deferred the pronouncement of its judgment in the petition filed by Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari against the notice issued to him by the Uttar Pradesh Police in relation to the Ghaziabad assault video. The judgement has now been posted for July 20.

The UP Police had insisted that Maheshwari appear before them in person while he had offered to give a statement over video conferencing with regards to a video that alleged an elderly Muslim man in Ghaziabad was a victim of hate crime.

Police said that their investigation later revealed that the incident was over a personal dispute and booked nine people, including Twitter India, for allegedly circulating false information to fan communal tension.

Justice G Narendar said that the judgement will be pronounced after he has gone through the precedents cited in the case. He said the bench wanted to go through them again to ensure there are no errors in the verdict.

“I want to take more time to go through the citations. Regarding the question of jurisdiction, I would like to go through the judgments in detail. I don’t want to make an error. I will dictate order next Tuesday,” the bench said.

The UP government had contested the jurisdiction of the Karnataka high court in hearing the case and deciding on the matter. The alleged offence was committed in Uttar Pradesh, the prosecution pointed out, questioning the grounds under which the court is hearing out the case.

Twitter last month was also issued a second notice by the Ghaziabad police to seek “account details” of the suspects accused by cops of posting and promoting the alleged Loni assault video.