New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a petition seeking direction to stop illegal trending of various hashtags on Twitter, attaching religion to the COVID-19 pandemic and said it was akin to asking MTNL to stop people talking wrong things on phone.
The apex court bench led by the Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde, refused to pass any order directing Twitter to drop the communal hashtags which are inflammatory in nature.
"How can the court stop this? You are saying that people are saying wrong things on Twitter. That is line with saying people are saying wrong things on phone. Can we direct MTNL then?," questioned the CJI.
The petitioner argued that he is not seeking to stop anything and merely asking for directions to drop the inflammatory hashtags.
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The petitioner argued that the trending on Twitter attacking a particular community by attaching the disease is totally contrary to Indian Laws.
The CJI refused to consider the argument and asked the petitioner, Hyderabad-based advocate Khaja Aijazuddin to withdraw his petition and approach the Telangana HC.
(With inputs from IANS)
