'No Urgency, You Can Do Without Twitter': Delhi High Court In Sanjay Hegde's Plea For Early Hearing In Twitter Account Suspension Case

While dealing with an application for early-hearing filed by Advocate Sanjay Hegde in the case pertaining to suspension of his Twitter account, the Delhi High Court observed that the matter does not involve any 'urgency' and posted it on September 29.

Observing that several other matters of importance are pending, Justice Rekha Palli remarked,

"Suspension of Twitter account is no urgency. Your client can do without a Twitter account. None of us are on Twitter. He can probably switch to Instagram or any other social media platform."

Advocate Pranjal Kishore, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that it has been over two years since suspension of Hegde's Twitter account. In the application for early hearing, it was submitted that the continued suspension of the Petitioner's account has the effect of illegally and unreasonably restricting his right to free speech, guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution.

In his application, Hegde referred to the case of Ajit Mohan and Ors. vs Legislative Assembly, National Capital Territory of Delhi and Ors. (2021), where the Court observed the role of social media intermediaries in enabling free speech by providing a voice to the voiceless and a means to escape state censorship. While acknowledging the "unprecedented degree of influence" exercised by intermediaries, the Court had observed "Platforms and intermediaries must subserve the principal objective as a valuable tool for public good upholding democratic values."

The Application also mentions that Twitter has blocked several other accounts during the pendency of this petition, including the account of Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, former Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.

It is for the second time that an early hearing application was being moved in the matter. On the earlier occasion, Justice Pratibha M. Singh allowed an early hearing and directed to list the matter on July 08, 2021. However, it is the petitioner's case that despite the order, it was not listed on the said date and has not been taken up for a year.

Background

Citing depiction of "hateful imagery", Twitter had blocked Hegde's account in October 2019, for posting the picture of August Landmesser wherein he refused to the Nazi salute at a rally, when everybody around him was doing it; a picture Hegde claims has been up for several months as his cover photo.

Following a massive virtual uproar in his favour, Twitter restored his account the next day, only to block it again, this time for sharing the poem titled "Hang Him". Hedge said that the said post dated back to 2017, where he had retweeted the poem posted by Kavita Krishnan, which dealt with the hanging of two peasant revolutionaries in Independent India.

Hegde contended that the said posts did not violate any of Twitter's posting norms.

On the other hand, Twitter had filed an affidavit in July claiming that its services are subject to certain contractual terms and conditions, which any user has to agree upon for availing the services on the platform. It is alleged that since Hegde failed to comply with such obligations, his user account was suspended.

So far as second limb of Hegde's argument regarding activities in furtherance of a Fundamental Right is concerned, the company has submitted, "when operation of a law is attracted by reason of a contract which a person is free to enter into, Article 19 has no application."

Case Title: Sanjay R. Hegde v. The Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology & Anr.

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