Delhi riots: SC dismisses FB India VP's plea against summons by Assembly panel

The Supreme Court Thursday dismissed a plea filed by Facebook India Vice President and MD Ajit Mohan challenging the summons issued by the Delhi Assemblys Peace and Harmony committee for failing to appear before it as witness in connection with the northeast Delhi riots last yearA bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul termed Mohans plea as premature saying nothing has happened against him before the Assembly panelPronouncing the verdict Justice Kaul said that technological age has created digital platforms which can be uncontrollable at timesThe social media platforms are having power and potential to influence people across borders like Facebook and debates and posts on these platforms may have the potential to polarise the society as many members of society do not have the wherewithal to verify the veracity of contents said the apex courtThe bench also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy delivered its verdict on the plea filed by Mohan Facebook India Online Services Pvt Ltd and Facebook Inc which contended that the committee lacked power to summon or hold petitioners in breach of privileges for failing to appear before it and had exceeded its constitutional limitsThe top court said the option of not answering before the committee cannot be disputed and representative of the petitioner can deny answering the question if it falls within the prohibited domainsIt said the Assembly does not have the power to legislate on the issue of law and order which falls under the Union List in the ConstitutionIt said the objective of peace and harmony go beyond law and order and policeThe bench said in the judgement it has divided the issues into three categories privilege free speech and legislative competenceAlso read Reading down antiterror law may have panIndia ramifications SC notice to 3 activists given bail by HCThe petitioners had challenged last years September 10 and 18 notices issued by the committee which sought Mohans presence before the panel probing theDelhi riots in February and Facebooks role in spread of alleged hate speechesThe Delhi Assembly had earlier said that no coercive action has been taken against Mohan and he was only summoned by its committee to appear as witness in connection with northeast Delhi riotsIn an affidavit filed in the top court the Delhi Assembly had said that Mohan has not been issued any summons for breach of privilegeDuring the arguments before the apex court Mohans counsel had said that right to silence is a virtue in present noisy times and the assembly has no legislative power to set up a panel to examine the issue of peace and harmonySenior advocate Harish Salve appearing for the Facebook official had said that setting up of the peace panel was not the core function of Delhi assembly as the law and order issue fell under the domain of the Centre in the national capitalSenior advocate A M Singhvi representing the panel of the assembly had said that the assembly has the power to summonHowever Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had opposed the submission of the panel of the assembly saying that law and order squarely fell under the domain ofDelhi Police which is accountable to the Central governmentEarlier in December last year the Peace and Harmony committee had moved the top court seeking to intervene in the plea filed by Mohan and othersOn October 15 last year the Centre had told the top court that proceedings of the Peace and Harmony committee is without jurisdiction as the issue pertained to law and orderThe apex court had said that its September 23 last year order asking the assemblys panel not to take any coercive action against Mohan would continue till further ordersThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever