Ghaziabad Man's Assault Case: UP Police Moves Supreme Court Against Karnataka HC Order Granting Protection To Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari

The Twitter employee had been asked by the Uttar Pradesh Police to appear before the Loni Border Police Station in relation to the investigation surrounding a video wherein an elderly man was assaulted near Ghaziabad.

On 24 June, a Single-Judge Bench of Justice G. Narender had passed an interim order in the petition filed by Maheshwari challenging the notice issued by the U.P. Police. However, liberty had been given to the police to examine the Petitioner in virtual mode.

The FIR was registered over the tweets made by few journalists and politicians about the incident of an elderly Muslim man getting assaulted near Ghaziabad. It was alleged in the FIR that fake news was shared on Twitter regarding the attack being communal in nature.

The FIR was in the backdrop of an elderly Muslim man's claim in a video that his beard was cut off, and he was forced to chant "Vande Mataram" and "Jai Shri Ram". However, later on, the Uttar Pradesh Police ruled out any "communal angle" and said that Sufi Abdul Samad, the elderly man, was attacked by six men, as they were unhappy over the tabeez (amulets) he had sold them. It mentions offences punishable under Sections 153 (provoking to cause riots), 153A (promoting enmity between religious groups), 295A (insulting religious beliefs), 505 (statements inducing public mischief) & 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

Previously, the Karnataka High Court had issued notice on the transit anticipatory bail application filed by Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of fact-checking portal 'AltNews', seeking protection in the FIR. In the Section 41A notice served on Zubair, the UP Police had stated that they were not intending to arrest him.

Journalist Rana Ayyub, another accused named in the FIR, was granted 4-week transit anticipatory bail by the Bombay High Court on June 21.