The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a petition of the Uttar Pradesh government challenging an order of the Karnataka high court quashing a notice against former Twitter India managing director Manish Maheshwari in connection to a probe into a communally sensitive video.
The video uploaded on the microblogging site was related to the alleged assault of a Muslim man in Loni Ghaziabad.
A bench, comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, heard the government's plea.
Appearing for the Yogi Adityanath government, solicitor general Tushar Mehta questioned the territorial jurisdiction of a high court, a Livelaw report said.
“There's a question of law that needs your examination. For the time being, ignore the reason why the summon was issued. It was a 41A notice, so there's no question of arrest. The question is the territorial jurisdiction of the high court,” Mehta said.
The court asked senior advocates AM Singhvi and Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Maheshwari, to accept the notice. “We have to hear the notice,” the CJI said.
The video, which went viral on social media, showed a Muslim man alleging that he was assaulted and forced to chant "Jai Shri Ram", with miscreants also chopping his beard off.
{{/usCountry}}The video, which went viral on social media, showed a Muslim man alleging that he was assaulted and forced to chant "Jai Shri Ram", with miscreants also chopping his beard off.
{{/usCountry}}Although the Uttar Pradesh police has ruled out any 'communal angle' in the case, an FIR was registered over offenses insinuating criminal conspiracy and enmity between religious groups.
Maheshwari has been held accountable by the Uttar Pradesh government for the uploaded video, which the prosecution says "resulted in violence".