Manipur High Court seeks progress report on blocking of video showing killing in Churachandpur

Imphal: The Manipur High Court has asked central authorities to provide an update on the blocking of a viral video that allegedly shows the killing of a man by armed miscreants in Churachandpur district.

The Centre had earlier informed the court that social media platforms were instructed to remove the video.

Hearing a writ petition filed by the Manipur government through the commissioner (Home), a single bench of Justice A Guneshwar Sharma said that the Advocate General had informed the court that "there is a viral video of a victim... and he was killed by some unknown miscreants, and the same has been circulated on social media and the same is likely to disturb public order".

The video, which surfaced on January 21, allegedly shows a man being shot dead by suspected militants despite pleading for his life in Churachandpur district. The clip was circulated with the message "No peace, no popular government".

In its order dated January 22, the court noted that it has been "submitted that the official respondents-- Meta Platforms Inc, Grievance Officer for YouTube, Google LLC, Google India Digital Services Pvt Ltd, and Whatsapp Inc -- be directed to take down the viral video."

The order further noted that the counsel assisting the Deputy Solicitor General of India informed the court that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had already issued a blocking order on January 22.

The order was passed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, read with the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009.

The court directed the respondents -- (Secretary, department of telecommunications, ministry of communications, and the Director General (DIT), cyber laws and eSecurity, ministry of electronics and information technology -- to place on record updated information on the progress of the blocking of the viral clips on or before the next date of hearing, scheduled for February 18