The Karnataka High Court today
Ghaziabad police had summoned Mr Maheshwari for questioning under Section 41 A of CrPC and had been given seven days to appear before the police and record his statement.
The single judge bench of Justice G Narendar on June 24 had granted interim stay against notice issued by Uttar Pradesh Police to Twitter India’s employee Manish Maheshwari under Section 41A of CrPC. The court had however given liberty to the Police to investigate the petitioner through virtual mode.
An FIR had been filed against Alt News Co-Founder Mohammed Zubair, Rana Ayyub, Saba Naqvi, the Wire & congress leaders Shama Mohammed, Salam Nizami & Maskoor Usmani at 11:20 PM on June 15, 2021 at PS Loni Border under sections 153 (provoking riots), 153A (promoting enmity between religious groups), 295A (insulting religious beliefs), 505 (statements inducing public mischief) & 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy).
Twitter Inc. & Twitter Communications Pvt. Ltd. were also named in the FIR for failing to take down/flag the tweets.
The Government of Uttar Pradesh has filed a plea in the Supreme Court against the order of the Karnataka High Court which had granted Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari protection from coercive action till the next date of hearing in the High Court.
Yesterday Maheshwari had filed a Caveat in the Supreme Court amidst reports that Ghaziabad Police will move Supreme Court challenging the High Court order.
Also, an FIR was filed against Manish Maheshwari at Bulandshahr in the wee hours of the night for the distorted and incorrect representation of the Indian Flag on its website, ANI reported. The managing director has been booked under Section 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 74 of the IT (Amendment) Act, 2008. The complaint has been filed by a Bajrang Dal Leader.
Recently, the Bombay High Court bench of Justice PD Naik had granted transit bail of 4 weeks to Rana Ayyub, one of the accused named in the FIR.
Case Title: Manish Maheshwari v. State of UP| WP No 11028| 2021