A lawyer of billionaire businessman Elon Musk’s company X (first Twitter) said during a hearing in the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday that if every ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ government official was given the right to send a notice to remove the content, it would be like misuse of government powers. Both the Central Government and the judge raised strong objection to this comment.
Trending videos
The matter arose when X Corp India told the court that it recently received a notice to remove a video from the Ministry of Railways, in which a woman in Hyderabad is seen driving a car on the railway track. During the hearing, senior advocate K.G. Raghavan raised the question whether every government official has the right to send such a notice under the IT Act. He said, if every Tom, Dick and Harry officials start sending me notices to me, then think how it will be misused.
Also read: Kolkata Rape Case: Court increased police custody till July 8, guard did not get relief
Raghavan also questioned whether such a content could be considered illegal. He said, ‘A woman was driving a car on the railway track. Like the news of dog bites is common, but the news of man’s dog bites becomes special. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, presented by the Government of India, objected to this. He said, he is an officer, no Tom, Dick and Harry. They have legal rights. International companies should not show so much ego.
Justice M. Nagprasanna also expressed displeasure over the comment and said, I object to this. He is an official of the Government of India. X Corp told the court that under Section 79 (3) (B) of the IT Act, not every government official has the right to block the content. Such an order should be given only according to Section 69A and related rules. The company has also appealed that no punitive action should be taken against them until the correct process is adopted by the government.
Also read: Gujarat HC: Contempt action begins against lawyer, accused of attending Allnine hearing with beer
Senior advocate Aditya Sondhi appeared on behalf of a group of digital media houses. He said that material manufacturers are affected by order to remove the content. When the court asked how they could object to the government and X, they said that such orders have a direct impact on their published content. Tushar Mehta opposed this intervention, saying that X is a strong international company and does not need any third party support.
The court has fixed the final hearing date 8 July and allow X Corp to add various ministries in the petition. Also, the Central Government has been instructed to file a reply on that application.
(Tagstotranslate) India News (T) NationalIndia News in Hindi (T) Latest India News Updates
