K'taka HC grants interim relief to Twitter India head in Ghaziabad assault case

Maheshwari’s counsel told the court that he is an employee of Twitter and he had nothing to do with the offence.

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday granted interim relief to Twitter India head Manish Maheshwari and told the Ghaziabad police not to take any coercive action against him. Bangalore-based Maheshwari moved the high court after the Ghaziabad Police summoned him to its Loni Border police station on Thursday to record his statement in connection with a video that seemed to show a hate crime targeting a Muslim man in Ghaziabad, and was amplified as such. The police, however, subsequently claimed it was not a communal incident.

Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari, who lives in Bengaluru in Karnataka received a notice from the Ghaziabad police on June 17 and was asked to join the probe. The police also gave him seven days to get his statement recorded in the case. (Reuters)

Maheshwari’s counsel told the court that he is an employee of Twitter and he had nothing to do with the offence. He also highlighted that Ghaziabad Police wanted Maheshwari to be present in-person despite Supreme Court and high court stating that the statement can be recorded through video-conferencing.

Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari, who lives in Bengaluru in Karnataka received a notice from the Ghaziabad police on June 17 and was asked to join the probe. The police also gave him seven days to get his statement recorded in the case.

Ghaziabad Police 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 with connection to the case on June 15. The police alleged that these people mentioned above tried to disrupt communal harmony by spreading such messages. In the video, the elderly man, Abdul Shamad Saifi, claimed that he was thrashed by some young men who had also asked him to chant ‘Jai Shree Ram’ on June 5. Journalist Rana Ayyub was granted transit anticipatory bail for a period of four weeks in connection with the case by the Bombay high court.

Police claim that the altercation was not due to any communal reason but over some amulets sold by the man to a few youths in the area who assaulted him over the sale. Police arrested nine men - Kalloo Gurjar, Parvesh Gurjar, Adil, Intezaar, Saddam, Himanshu, Anas, Shavez and Babu - following the assault on the elderly man.