Loni incident: UP Police sends fresh notice to Twitter India as firm seeks questioning via video conferencing

Not satisfied with the microblogging platform's response, the police have now sent a second notice, said Ghaziabad SSP Amit Pathak

Rejecting Twitter's plea to appear through video conference for questioning on a probe related to the viral video of an assault on an elderly man in Loni, Uttar Pradesh Police issued a fresh notice to the microblogging platform.

A fresh notice was issued to Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari on Monday asking him to appear in person before the investigating officer at Loni Police Station, on June 24, said an official from Uttar Pradesh police.

Earlier, Twitter India officials had informed the police that they were ready to be available for questioning via video conferencing.

Confirming having received the reply, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Ghaziabad Amit Pathak said Twitter had also asked the Uttar Pradesh Police to make some changes in the notice issued by them.

Not satisfied with the microblogging platform's response, the police have now sent a second notice, said the official.

Ghaziabad Police had last week sent a legal notice to Twitter India Managing Director Manish Maheshwari to appear before Loni Police Station Investigating office to give a statement within seven days.

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Separately, Twitter India also restricted 50 tweets in connection with the incident.

According to Twitter officials, access to tweets pertaining to the video showing the alleged assault of Abdul Samad Saifi and his beard being cut off have been withheld.

"As explained in our Country Withheld Policy, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in response to a valid legal demand or when the content has been found to violate local law(s). The withholdings are limited to the specific jurisdiction/country where the content is determined to be illegal. We notify the account holder directly so they’re aware that we’ve received a legal order pertaining to the account by sending a message to the email address associated with the account(s), if available,” Twitter said in a statement.

The Ghaziabad Police had on June 15 booked Twitter Inc, Twitter Communications India, a news website, journalists Mohammed Zubair and Rana Ayyub, besides Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani, Shama Mohamed and writer Saba Naqvi.

This was the first case filed against a social media giant for third-party content on its platform after the government claimed that the microblogging site lost legal immunity due to non-compliance of the new IT rules.

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They were booked over the circulation of a video in which the elderly man, Abdul Samad Saifi, claims he was allegedly thrashed by some young men who also asked him to chant ''Jai Shri Ram'' on June 5.

The Ghaziabad Police, who arrested nine people in connection with the case, claimed that there was no communal angle in the case and it happened due to enmity.

The police have maintained that the assault took place because the accused were unhappy about the ''tabeez'' (amulets) sold to them by Saifi, a resident of adjoining Bulandshahr district.

However, the police claim the video was shared to cause communal unrest.

The June 15 FIR stated that the Ghaziabad Police had issued a statement with facts of the incident but despite that, the accused did not remove the video from their Twitter handles.

"Besides this, Twitter Inc and Twitter Communications India did not take any measures to remove their tweets," the FIR said.