The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said that it will hear advocate Sanjay Hegde's plea challenging the suspension of his Twitter account on July 8.
A single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh listed Hegde's plea for hearing on July 8.
The court was hearing an application filed by Hegde seeking an early hearing in his plea. The plea was filed by advocate Pranjal Kishore.
In his early plea, the advocate has sought a direction to Twitter to restore his Twitter account, which was permanently suspended on November 5, 2019.
The Petitioner has said that the suspension of his Twitter account is contrary to the 'Twitter Rules' and its terms of use, illegal and arbitrary. A violation of his right to free speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19 (1) (a). A violation of his right to assembly and right to form association guaranteed by Articles 19 (1) (b) and 19 (1) (c) of the Constitution. Consequently, the Petitioner seeks an appropriate writ, direction, or order, directing the Centre to frame guidelines to ensure that online speech is not arbitrarily censored by social media websites such as the one run by Twitter.
In his early application, he apprised the court that the petition was first listed on December 16, 2019, and subsequently heard on January 6, 2020, wherein notice was issued to both respondents after hearing the Petitioner's arguments regarding maintainability of the Petition. When the matter was taken up on February 11, 2020, counsel appearing for the Respondent Twitter had orally undertaken that the Petitioner's data would not be deleted from its servers and also sought time to file a note with submissions challenging maintainability of the Petition. Later the matter has not been taken up for more than a year on account of the Covid pandemic.
The application said that during the pendency of this Petition, thousands of other accounts have been similarly blocked. In some cases, access to content is disabled by Respondent No.2 (Twitter) without any notice, and without giving any explanation or reason whatsoever. In the Petitioner's own case, his account was suspended for posts which have been put up by thousands of other users and continue to exist even today.
"It is reiterated that the continued suspension of the Petitioner's account has the effect of illegally curtailing his right to freedom of speech and expression. In view of the same, and in light of the importance of the questions raised, it is most respectfully prayed that this application be allowed, and the matter be listed for early hearing," the application said.
He also mentioned that Centre vide notification dated February 25, 2021, has notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
"The rules recognize Respondent No.2 as a 'significant social media intermediary.' They provide for some procedural safeguards with respect to censorship by entities such as Respondent No.2," the application said.
The advocate also mentioned the US Supreme Court opinion delivered on April 5, 2021, which has adverted to the significant control over speech, exercised by Twitter. He said that case arose out of a challenge to the US President's blocking of Twitter users from following his account. The matter was disposed of as having become moot, post the said President having demitted office, he said.
He also reproduced part of US Supreme Court judge Justice Clarence Thomas opinion in its application. "However, in a separate concurring opinion Justice Clarence Thomas noted the 'concentrated control of speech in the hands of a few private parties. The Judge went on to observe that existing legal doctrines would need to be modified in light of the concentration of power in the hands of private parties," read the application copy.
( With inputs from ANI )
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