Hegde’s plea on his account suspension untenable: Twitter

HC tells micro-blogging site not to delete data of account holder, if not done already

February 12, 2020 12:57 am | Updated 12:57 am IST - New Delhi

The Delhi High Court was on Tuesday informed by Twitter that the petition by senior advocate Sanjay Hegde in relation to the suspension of his Twitter account was not maintainable.

Senior advocate Sajan Poovayya, appearing for Twitter, sought time to submit its response on the issue.

Justice Navin Chawla allowed Twitter to submit its note within two weeks and listed the case for further hearing on March 27.

In an interim relief, senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, representing Mr. Hegde, urged that the Twitter account data of his client must not be deleted. The High Court did not pass any formal order, but said the data should not be deleted, if it hasn’t been done so already.

Earlier, the Centre had clarified that it had not directed the suspension of Mr. Hegde’s Twitter account. The Centre also said it was “neither a necessary nor a proper party to this proceedings”.

The response of the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology came on a petition filed by Mr. Hegde to frame guidelines for censorship on social media strictly in accordance with the provision of the Constitution.

Twitter had, in October last year, suspended the senior advocate’s account over the use of an image of August Landmesser on his page referring it as “hateful imagery” and violation of the company’s rules. The account was subsequently restored but was suspended again this time over a tweet which was about two-and-half-years old.

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