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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea seeking its direction to restrain online social media from allowing its platform in spreading hatred on communal lines and targeting religion like through “Islamophobic” comments which were posted and shared after the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin last year.
Though a bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice A S Bopanna was reluctant in entertaining the petition filed by a practicing lawyer saying that the government has brought new information technology rules meant to regulate social media and OTT platforms, it posted the hearing to the next week after the petitioner alleged that the new rule is silent on the issue raised by him and it did not talk about religion The bench asked the petitioner Khaja Aijazuddin to come prepared after examining the rules and posted the hearing for next week when it will take a call on whether it should intervene in the case.
Aijazuddin approached the apex court after Telengana high court refused to entertain his plea and asked him to approach the SC. Referring to the objectionable posts including hashtags which were widely circulated and shared last year to blame one religion for the spread of coronavirus, he said that hashtags such as #Islamiccoronavirusjihad, #Coronajihad, #Tablighijamat and so on linked Islam to the pandemic.
The bench in the beginning said that the petitioner could approach the government and make a representation to raise the issue but Aijazuddin pleaded that his petition at least be tagged with a batch of petitions pending in court pertaining to the new IT rules. The court granted him an opportunity to convince it that the IT rules did not cover the issue of misusing social media for spreading religious hatred and deferred the hearing.
Though a bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice A S Bopanna was reluctant in entertaining the petition filed by a practicing lawyer saying that the government has brought new information technology rules meant to regulate social media and OTT platforms, it posted the hearing to the next week after the petitioner alleged that the new rule is silent on the issue raised by him and it did not talk about religion The bench asked the petitioner Khaja Aijazuddin to come prepared after examining the rules and posted the hearing for next week when it will take a call on whether it should intervene in the case.
Aijazuddin approached the apex court after Telengana high court refused to entertain his plea and asked him to approach the SC. Referring to the objectionable posts including hashtags which were widely circulated and shared last year to blame one religion for the spread of coronavirus, he said that hashtags such as #Islamiccoronavirusjihad, #Coronajihad, #Tablighijamat and so on linked Islam to the pandemic.
The bench in the beginning said that the petitioner could approach the government and make a representation to raise the issue but Aijazuddin pleaded that his petition at least be tagged with a batch of petitions pending in court pertaining to the new IT rules. The court granted him an opportunity to convince it that the IT rules did not cover the issue of misusing social media for spreading religious hatred and deferred the hearing.
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