'Communal, Inflammatory': Delhi High Court Calls For Action Against Journalist Rana Ayyub's X Posts 'Insulting Hindu Deities'

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday called for action on posts made by journalist Rana Ayyub on 'X' (formerly Twitter) platform allegedly insulting Hindu deities and spreading anti-India sentiment.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav was hearing a plea filed by Amita Sachdeva seeking deletion of the tweets alleging that they are derogatory, inflammatory and communally sensitive.

While issuing notice on the plea, the Court asked the Union of India, X Corp, Delhi Police and Ayyub to file responses by tomorrow.

The Court said that the matter requires urgent consideration and asked the Delhi Police to transmit the documents to X Corp.

“Action is necessary in view of the highly derogatory, inflammatory and communal tweets by respondent no. 4 (Ayyub) pursuant to which even an FIR is directed to be registered against (Ayyub) on the directions of the court of competent jurisdiction,” the Court said.

The matter is now listed on Friday.

Sachdeva has alleged that Ayyub, through her tweets, has not only insulted Hindu deities but also defamed Veer Savarkar and Indian Army. The tweets, total 6 in question, date back to 2013 to 2017.

For context, Sachdeva, who claims to be a devout follower of Sanatan Dharma, had filed a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal requesting criminal action against Ayyub for the social media posts.

Later, an FIR was ordered against Ayyub after the trial court observed that "prima-facie" cognizable offences were made out against her punishable under Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class) and 505 (statements conducing public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

In his fresh petition before the High Court, Sachdeva has now sought deletion of the X posts saying that the same have prima facie disclosed the offences in question.

As per the petition, Sachdeva had approached X Corp's Grievance Appellate Committee which declined to grant relief on the ground that the matter was sub judice.

”Despite the complete exhaustion of the remedies available under Rules 3(2) and 3A of the IT Rules, 2021, of the IT Intermediary Guidelines, the offending tweets continue to remain publicly accessible worldwide as on date. The continued availability of the impugned content is causing ongoing injury to religious sentiments, disturbing communal harmony, and rendering the judicial directions ineffective,” the plea said.

In May last year, the Delhi Police had told the trial court that details of Ayyub's X account and the alleged tweets in question were awaited and that the posts are not available on the social media platform.

Sachdeva alleged that Ayyub has consistently used her social media to insult Hindu Deities, malign the fabric of Indian unity and promote hostility toward India and its citizens including Indian Army.

It was Sachdeva's case that despite follow ups, no action was taken on her complaint. Accordingly, she filed an application under Section 156(3) of CrPC seeking registration of FIR against the journalist.

Title: AMITA SACHDEVA v. UOI & Ors