The Ghaziabad Police on Monday sent another notice to Twitter India’s head to appear before it in the case of a video of an elderly Muslim man who claimed he was beaten up and made to chant “Jai Shri Ram”.
The notice to Twitter India managing director Manish Maheshwari asked him to appear by 10.30 am on Thursday or face appropriate action under law.
Superintendent of Police (Rural) Iraj Raja said Twitter’s response to the first notice sent on June 17 to appear at the Loni Border police station had been to offer a video call instead. The police had lodged an FIR against Twitter and several journalists for sharing the video and allegedly trying to spread discord between communities.
Twitter India’s head of policy communications Pallavi Walia had “no comment” to give when asked about Monday’s notice.
In its notice, the police said Mr. Maheshwari’s June 18 reply showed that he was not cooperating with the police investigation. The notice stated that Mr. Maheshwari represented Twitter in India and as such was liable to cooperate with ongoing investigation. The allegations in the video had been denied by the police and it was in Twitter India’s power to delete the tweets sharing the video, which it failed to do.
The police asked Mr. Maheshwari, as well as Twitter’s interim resident grievance officer for India Dharmendra Chatur, through a notice on Monday, to appear at the Loni Border police station by 10.30 am on Thursday under section 41 A of the Criminal Procedure Code.
