Himachal Pradesh High Court has issued a stern warning to the state government in the matter of the closure of social media accounts belonging to former Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Neeraj Bharti, Baldev Kumar alias Banty Siraji and former Deputy Advocate General Vinay Sharma. The court observed that the government cannot arbitrarily shut down any Facebook account without concrete facts.
A division bench of Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Bhupesh Sharma heard two separate writ petitions in the matter. The bench directed that the accounts be restored within a stipulated time and cautioned that compensation could be imposed if this is not done.
Petitioners’ allegations
The petitioners alleged that social media accounts of those who speak against the government are being closed, and that Meta shut their Facebook accounts at the government’s behest. They described this as a dictatorial attitude and sought restoration of the accounts.
Proceedings in court
No one appeared on behalf of the Central government during the hearing, following which the court ordered ex-parte proceedings against it. A joint reply has been filed by the state government and other respondents, while some other respondents have been given an additional three weeks to respond.
In the other case, the Registry reported that the notice sent to Meta could not be served because the company was not found at the address provided. The bench directed the petitioner to file the correct address of the company within two days, after which a fresh notice will be issued to Meta.
Both matters will next be heard on November 26.
Takedown notice records sought
At the previous hearing, the High Court had asked the government for documents and information related to the takedown notice sent to Meta. The court had asked whether Rule 3(1)(d) of the IT Rules, 2021 was followed in the action. It had also sought the written order authorising the officer who issued the notice, along with his name, designation and rank, and details of the legal provision used to remove the content. The government was also asked to produce the exact URLs and links of the content that was taken down.
