In a relief to Twitter India Managing Director Manish Maheshwari, the Karnataka High Court on Friday quashed the notice issued on him by the Uttar Pradesh police indirectly portraying him as an accused in the Ghaziabad case related to uploading and circulating of a “communally sensitive” video and tweets on the micro-blogging platform.
The court said the notice, issued under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure on June 21, will now have to be treated as one issued under Section 160 of the Cr.PC, which treats a person as a witnesses. It said the police can record Maheswari’s statement either virtually or at his office or residence in Bengaluru.
Disposing of Maheshwari’s petition, Justice G Narendar said the court did have the jurisdiction to entertain the petition as a part of the cause of action had occurred in Bengaluru with the petitioner residing and working in the city though the video upload happened in UP.
‘Arm twisting’
“Issuance of notice to Maheswhari under Section 41A appears to be an arm twisting as he had refused to heed a notice of June 17 under Section 160,” the court said.
Stating that the UP police have “not placed an iota of evidence” of prima facie involvement of Maheswari, the Court said the records indicate that TCIPL or Maheshwari have nothing to do with contents uploaded on Twitter, as Twitter Inc., US, which controls the content, does not possess any share in TCIPL; only Twitter International and Twitter Netherlands do.