Supreme Court Restrains Tripura Police From Acting Against Activist's Tweets On Tripura Violence

The impugned notice asked Twitter to remove the Tweet and sought details of IP address and phone number for the purpose of investigation for the criminal cases registered against Khan.

Issuing notice on the writ petition, the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna recorded the following submissions by Advocate Shahrukh Alam, for the petitioner-

1. The petitioner had put out a tweet on his Twitter account referring to the violence that had taken place in Tripura and the vandalisation of places of religious worship;

2. The Tripura police was tagged in the tweet;

3. On 22.11.2021, a communication was addressed from the office of the Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime), Crime Branch, Tripura Police to Twitter Inc., adverting to the registration of FIRs under sections 153 A, 153 B, 469, 471, 503, 504, 120 B of the IPC and section 13 of the UAPA. The communication sought, inter alia, the removal of the contents of Twitter accounts whose URLs/Links are provided separately; to preserve the contents of the Twitter accounts from 01/10/2021 to 30/04/2022 whose URLs/Links are provided separately; details of user registration of the Twitter accounts as listed; Browsing log details from 01/10/2021 to 07/11/2021 of the Twitter accounts as listed; E-mail addresses added to the Twitter accounts as listed; List of Login/Logout IP addresses of the Twitter accounts as listed from the 01/10/2021 to 07/11/2021; Mobile numbers added to the Twitter accounts as listed at the time of registration and subsequent updation.

"In the above premises, it has been submitted that writing about violence will certainly not attract any of the offences to which a reference is contained in the communication", the bench recorded.

"Issue notice...Pending further order, there shall be an ad-interim direction staying the first respondent [SUPERINTENDENT OF POLICE (CYBER CRIME)] from acting on the communication dated 22 November 2021 as against the petitioner to these proceedings", directed the bench.

Ms. Alam had prayed that in addition to notice on the writ petition, she seeks a stay of the impugned notice as it amounts to an "invasion of privacy". "The suggestion seems to be that writing about the violence is contributing to the violence and that, to my mind, is completely misdirected" she had urged.

The plea urges that the Petitioner herein is a socially conscious student who has received notice from Respondent No.2 (Twitter) stating that his Twitter Account is one of several that has been marked by the Respondent No.1 and has been made the subject of a roving enquiry.

The notice received by Twitter and forwarded to the Petitioner for his information states that Case No. 2021WAG181 under Sections 153A, 153 B, 469, 471, 503, 504, 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and also astonishingly, for an alleged 'speech act' at best, Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.

The roving enquiry involves allegations that some accounts on twitter posted 'distorted and objectionable' news items around the violence in Tripura. The allegations inter alia include the following:

i. The terms 'distorted' and 'objectionable' are used interchangeably in relating to posts about 'vandalized mosques' and 'atrocities on Muslims' and both are treated as constituting an offence.

ii. It is suggested that posts about the alleged targeted violence, and allegations about lack of response from authorities are objectionable and constitute an offence because they might further create 'communal disharmony'.

iii. Further, it is suggested that writing about incidents of targeted violence might provoke further violence in the state.

iv. In terms of the allegations of posting 'fabricated news', there is no distinction between 'retweets', which may have been reckless at worst, and motivated tweets if any. It must also be said that the allegation regarding fabricated posts is disputed between journalists and public authorities.

It is submitted that based on the aformentioned allegations, the office of the Superintendent of Police (Cyber Crime), Agartala, has asked Twitter to provide all details of these accounts including, inter alia, their browsing histories and mobile phones.

It is submitted that the impugned action of the police is perverse and completely misinterprets the law relating to 'speech acts' as laid down by the Supreme Court-

The petition urges the following prayers-

i) Issue appropriate writ, order or direction quashing the impugned notice dated 22.11.2021 served upon Respondent No.2 by Respondent No.1 under Section 91 of the Cr. P. C. in Case No. 2021WAG181 u/sec. 153A, Sections 153A, 153 B, 469, 471, 503, 504, 120B of IPC and Section 13 of the UAPA, 1967;