UP govt moves SC challenging K'taka HC order granting protection to Twitter MD

The Uttar Pradesh government has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Karnataka High Court order, which granted protection from arrest to Twitter MD Manish Maheshwari in a case connected with a viral video of attack on an elderly man in Ghaziabad.

The Karnataka High Court on June 24 granted protection to Maheshwari in an FIR lodged by the Loni Police in Ghaziabad. Meanwhile, Maheshwari, has also filed a caveat, seeking an opportunity to present his case before the top court passes any order.

The Ghaziabad police had issued notice to Maheshwari, asking him to appear at the Loni Police Station for questioning in the investigation connected with the viral video of the assault on an elderly Muslim man.

The matter is connected with the circulation of a video in which the elderly man, Abdul Shamad Saifi, said that he was allegedly beaten by some young men who forced him to chant "Jai Shri Ram" on June 5. The police claimed that the video was shared to incite communal discontent.


On June 15, the Ghaziabad police had booked Twitter Inc, Twitter Communications India, news website The Wire, journalists Mohammed Zubair and Rana Ayyub, besides Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani, Shama Mohamed and writer Saba Naqvi.

The police had rejected Twitter India officials request to carry out questioning via video conferencing.

According to the police, the accused were unhappy with the amulets sold to them by Saifi, a resident of Bulandshahr district, and ruled out any communal angle in the matter. The Ghaziabad police had issued a statement with facts of the incident, yet the accused did not remove the video from their Twitter handles.


Saifi purportedly claimed he was attacked by some young men and forced to chant "Jai Shri Ram". But police said Saifi has not made any such allegations in his FIR lodged on June 7.-IANS