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The Delhi High court has sought the response of Union Minister Smriti Irani on pleas by tech giants Google and Twitter seeking links to objectionable content posted against the BJP leader and her 18 year old daughter Zoish Irani by three Congress leaders.
The tech giants requested that they were not an adjudicating body and would be prompt in removing objectionable content if the URL links were made available to them.
Justice Mini Pushkarna sought a response from Smriti Irani on the pleas within two weeks.
Justice Pushkarna in an order passed last month had directed the Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D'Souza to delete and remove their objectionable social media posts against Irani. The court had further directed Google, Twitter and Meta, which owns Facebook, to remove such content "or anything similar thereto" from their platforms.
In their application seeking modification of the earlier order, the tech giants said that they need specific links to remove and the ones, which were available, have been removed.
The plea said that a sword of contempt hangs on them as they were directed to remove the objectionable content, in case the three leaders failed to do so in a week. The court issued notice of the plea and granted two weeks to Irani to respond.
"We are intermediaries. What we require is that plaintiffs may give URLs, we will take them off. If we have doubts, we can inform the plaintiff and the plaintiff can then approach the court. We are not an adjudicating body. We cannot decide what's similar. Plaintiff is under obligation to give me links," the pleas said.
On 1 August, the High Court said Congress leaders conspired to "launch a tirade of false scathing and belligerent personal attacks.
Irani had moved the Delhi High court against Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and others for alleged defamatory allegations against her daughter. The BJP leader has also sought damages of more than ₹2 crores.
The Bench not only issued the notice on the petition but also criticised the defendants for making allegations without any basis or substance against her daughter.
Irani and her daughter got embroiled in trouble when Opposition party Indian National Congress pointed out that Zoish has been running an illegal bar by the name Silly Souls in Goa. Controversy arose when Silly Souls was served a show cause notice after it was found that its owners renewed the restaurant's liquor licence using the name of a deceased person.
The Opposition demanded that Irani be sacked from her position as a parliamentarian by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Following this, Irani sent a legal notice to the three Congress leaders demanding their unconditional apology.
When Congress leaders charged Irani and Zoish, the latter termed these charges as 'baseless' and said she was neither an owner nor operating the restaurant.
Irani had defended her daughter and said, “my 18-year-old daughter is studying…my 18-year-old daughter does not run an illegal bar."
However, Congress leaders brought out an article from 14 April which says that 'the cabinet minister is a proud mother as praises pour in for her daughter's restaurant.
(With inputs from ANI)