The Supreme Court issued a notice to Facebook India Vice President and CEO Ajit Mohan, and ordered that no enforcement action be taken against him until October 15, when the matter will be taken for a further hearing in the case in relation to a summons asking him to depose. before him regarding the riots in Northeast Delhi.
A bench of judges Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Aniruddha Bose and Krishna Murari issued notices to the secretary of the Legislative Assembly; the ministries of Law and Justice, the Interior, Electronics and Information Technology; Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, represented by the Secretary General, and the Delhi Police, asking them to answer the plea.
Furthermore, the high court issued a notice to the Delhi Assembly Center at the request of Facebook’s vice president about the subpoena requesting him to stand down over the Delhi riots. SC noted that the Delhi Assembly Peace and Harmony Committee will not meet until further orders are received.
Earlier, Mohan submitted a motion to the Supreme Court against the Delhi Assembly Committee subpoena, a notice issued by the Delhi Assembly Peace and Harmony Committee to appear before him for his alleged role in the Delhi violence in February.
Facebook, Mohan and others had filed the statement in the high court against the Delhi Assembly panel. As Facebook had refused to attend the first call, the assembly panel had to send a second call.
The petitioners had transferred to the higher court challenging the two subpoenas issued by the defendant, the Legislative Assembly, Delhi NCT and others, against him – on September 10 and 18 – on the grounds that they violated the petitioner’s fundamental rights under article 19 (1) (a) and Article 21, guaranteed by Part III of the Indian Constitution, affirmed the petition.
The petitioners had gone to the high court to quash these two subpoenas issued by the Legislative Assembly, NCT of Delhi and others, against them.
The petitioners indicated that the first subpoena and the second subpoena issued by the Peace and Harmony Committee of the Legislative Assembly, NCT of Delhi and others ordered one of the petitioners, the Vice President and Managing Director to appear before the Committee on September 23, 2020.
Facebook provides a safe place to express yourself. In particular, Petitioners also provide easy-to-use tools that allow users to report objectionable content. The petitioners provide users with options to report content that violates their publicly available community standards, the petitioners claimed.
The Committee’s insistence on forcing Ajit Mohan to speak, and its categorical threat to his non-appearance as a “violation of the Committee’s privilege and [to take] the necessary action as deemed appropriate, ”generates a clear and present danger to the fundamental rights and freedoms of the petitioners in the ultra vires process before the Committee, he said.
Consequently, the petitioners are forced to go to this court to avoid imminent and irreparable harm to themselves, they added.
With contributions from agencies
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