The Court also said that Twitter would have been more sensitive if it had been about other religions.
The Delhi High Court Monday (March 28) asked social media platform Twitter why it was not taking action against accounts that repeatedly post derogatory content about Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
It also asked why those accounts were not suspended.
The Court was hearing a matter related to Atheist Republic's account, which repeatedly posted derogatory comments about Hindu Gods and Goddesses. In this particular case, it has posted about Maa Kali.
Pointing out the arbitrariness of Twitter's actions, a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla said that it appeared as if Twitter resorted to tough actions only if it felt sensitive about a post or information and would not take any action if people of other 'regions and ethnicities' felt offended by some content.
"It is ultimately boiling down to this: People you feel sensitive about, you will block them. You are not bothered about the sentiments and religion of other people of the world. We dare say, if it were a thing done for any other religion, you would be much more sensitive," ACJ Sanghi said.
Twitter claimed that people post all kinds of stuff on it, and it can not block accounts. The Court asked why they had blocked former President Trump then?
The Court asked Twitter to submit the policy detail it follows for suspending the accounts on its platforms.
The Delhi High Court is continuing the hearing in a PIL filed by advocate Aditya Deshwal, arguing that several derogatory posts were made through a Twitter handle 'Atheist Republic', and despite several complaints, Twitter has neither suspended the account nor taken down the offending tweets.
In October last year, the Delhi High Court asked Twitter to take action against Atheist Republic's account. A bench of then Chief Justice DN. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh had said, "You should respect the sentiments of general public as you are doing business for public at large. Their sentiments shall be given due importance…Why you should do things like this. You should remove this".
The Court also issued a notice to the Union government asking it to place on record the Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) for blocking access on Twitter.
Arguing his case, petitioner Deshwal said, "The submission that social media intermediaries can act only after a court order is completely wrong. The new IT Rules give a free hand to social media intermediaries to regulate their content. As far as my case is concerned this Atheist Republic is a habitual offender. Armin Navabi is the founder of this account and he is mocking even the proceedings. They are circulating blasphemous content. They may be atheists but they cannot ridicule other religions."
