A complaint has been filed against Twitter India chief Manish Maheswari and a non-profit organisation for allegedly spreading communal hatred, reported news agency ANI. The complaint was filed by advocate Aditya Singh Deshwal, who cited a picture of Hindu Goddess Kali that was shared by a user named Atheist Republic, as the reason behind the complaint.
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The advocate said that the user “deliberately” shared such posts to “outrage the religious feelings of Hindus to insult our religious beliefs,” the news agency reported.
The complaint was filed before the Delhi Police Cyber Cell against Twitter Communications India Private Ltd, Twitter India’s Managing Director, Manish Maheshwari and Shagufta Kamran, Public Policy Manager of Twitter India. The complaint was also made against Atheist Republic’s founder, Armin Navabi and its CEO, Susanna Macintrye.
In his complaint, Deshwal said, “Twitter which is a microblogging website/platform in connivance with Armin Navab and Atheist Republic has been showing this blasphemous content from July 2011.”
“The user profile of Atheist Republic is full of such blasphemous content about Hindu Religion and other religions,” he said.
The advocate went on to say that Twitter, as a Significant Social Media Intermediary (SSMN) took no steps to remove such content and “in a blatant violation of Indian laws has been acting as an accomplice to the crime and showing such blasphemous and insulting content.”
Deshwal accused the social media platform of “deliberately promoting hate speech about the Hindu religion,” which he said was a violation of the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, in light of section 79 of Information Technology Act, 2000.
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In his complaint, the advocate has sought that FIR should be immediately filed against those named in his complaint.