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The High Court of Telangana has issued notice in a petition seeking action against social media platform Twitter for allowing Islamophobic hashtag trends in relation to Coronavirus (COVID-19).
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy was hearing a petition filed by Advocate Khaja Aijazuddin seeking directions to initiate criminal proceedings against twitter and its users who posted hateful posts.
The petitioner has submitted that several illegal trends are run on twitter with hashtags like #Islamiccoronavirusjihad, #Coronajihad, #Tablighijamat, #Nizamuddinidiots, #TablighiJamatVirus and other Islamophobic posts.
The petitioner has also sought directions to restrain all online sites in India from carrying Islamophobic posts as they hurt the feelings of the Muslim community, pointing out that such posts may disturb the communal harmony in the country.
The petitioner has submitted that “Attaching the religion to pandemic disease which is done by social network users on Twitter is highly unwarranted, illegal and unconstitutional.”
The bench issued notices to the Union Cabinet Secretary, the Union Home Secretary, Telangana Director General of Police, Hyderabad Commissioner of Police, and Twitter Inc, represented by its Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey and has sought their response before the next date of hearing which is July 20.
The petitioner had earlier filed a petition before the Supreme Court which directed him to approach the Telangana High Court.
-India Legal Bureau