Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, who had sent a legal notice to the Information Technology (IT) and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and social media giant Twitter for taking down his April 12 tweet on the COVID-19 situation, on Monday said the Centre’s direction to Twitter is an “attack on his right to free speech”.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Khera said his tweet only highlighted the “double standards” with regard to attacking the Tablighi Jamaat congregation last year when there were 6,000 COVID cases and “collective silence” about the Kumbh Mela and election rallies at a time when India witnessed lakhs of fresh corona cases.
“As a responsible citizen and political activist, I will only restrict myself to my tweet. Where am I violating the IT Act or spreading panic or fake news?” asked Mr. Khera.
“This, indeed, is an attempt to muzzle any voice that question the government. It is an attack on my right to free speech,”he added.
The social media platform, Twitter, has reportedly taken down 50-odd posts after the Narendra Modi government complained that such posts spread “fake news” and “panic” about its handling of the second wave of the pandemic.
Apart from Mr Khera’s tweet, posts by Congress leader and Lok Sabha member Revanth Reddy, actor Vineet Kumar Singh, filmmaker Vinod Kapri and West Bengal Minister Moloy Ghatak were also taken down in India. Twitter users outside India, however, will be able to see these posts.
In his legal notice to Mr Prasad sent through his lawyer Karan Sharma on Sunday, Mr Khera starts with a quote from George Orwell: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”.
The notice goes on to state that withholding the tweet or threatening the change the status of the account is an “abuse of regulatory power and also an attempt to scuttle the voice of the opposition which is completely in violation of Freedom of Speech as guaranteed by Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India.”
The notice argued that section 69A of the IT Act doesn’t apply to Mr Khera as, under this section, the Center can block content only “in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above”.
“Withdraw any and all such directions issued by the government of India to Twitter Inc, which abrogate the Freedom of Speech and Personal Liberty which are guaranteed by the Constitution of India to its citizens,” the notice added.