Twitter India MD says parent body Twitter Inc has no share holding in his company
Bengaluru, July 22: Twitter India is an independent entity as its parent company Twitter Inc does not have a single share in it, Twitter India Managing Director Manish Maheshwari claimed in the Karnataka High Court on Thursday.
The submission was made during the hearing by a single judge bench on a petition by Maheshwari, challenging the notice issued by Uttar Pradesh police, seeking his personal appearance as part of its probe into a communally sensitive video uploaded by a user on the Twitter platform.
The order by Justice G Narendra is expected to be pronounced on Friday.
As Justice Narendar sought to know whether the US- headquartered Twitter Inc could be called as a parent company, Maheshwari's counsel C V Nagesh said, "Twitter Inc is a parent company.
We have absolutely nothing to do with that (Twitter Inc).
It (Twitter India) is an independent organisation and independent institution."
When the judge asked about the promoters and the shareholding patterns of Twitter India, Nagesh said Twitter India is only an affiliated company of Twitter Inc.
The judge then pointed out that there is no such thing like affiliated company.
In normal terms it is called a sister company or associate, depending on the shareholding and memorandum of association.
To this, Nagesh said "Let me go on record that Twitter USA (Inc) does not hold a single share in Twitter India.That's why I am submitting that it's a totally different entity."
P Prasanna Kumar, counsel for Ghaziabad police, said that Twitter Inc will face the "consequences for saying that they do not know who Twitter India is".
Kumar said "My instructions are that 99 per cent of shares of the company are with Twitter Inc."
"All the colleagues of the petitioner have been representing Twitter India, as well as Twitter Inc before the Central government agencies even to this day", Kumar said.
He argued that "unless Twitter India officials were connected to each other", the board of Twitter Inc. would not have authorised its Twitter India employees to represent before the Central government agencies.
Justice Narendar maintained that the board of directors can authorise anybody.
During the argument, Nagesh offered to place a memo on record on Friday that Twitter USA is not even a shareholder.
Explaining about the share-holding pattern, he said the Twitter International Company, headquartered in Ireland, has 9,999 shares, whereas Twitter Netherlands has one share.
However, it is Twitter Inc which runs the platform.
The Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) police had issued a notice under Section 41-A of the CrPC on June 21,asking Maheshwari to report at Loni Border police station at 10:30 AM on June 24.
He then moved the Karnataka High Court as he lives in Bengaluru in Karnataka.
On June 24, the High Court, in an interim order, restrained Ghaziabad police from initiating any coercive action against him.
Justice Narendar had also maintained that if the police wanted to examine him, they could do so through virtual mode.
The Ghaziabad Police on June 15 booked Twitter Inc, Twitter Communications India Pvt.Ltd.(Twitter India), news website The Wire, journalists Mohammed Zubair and Rana Ayyub, besides Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani, Shama Mohamed and writer Saba Naqvi.
They were booked over the circulation of a video in which an elderly man Abdul Shamad Saifi alleges that he was thrashed by some young men, who also asked him to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' on June 5.
According to police, the video was shared to cause communal unrest.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
EAM Jaishankar meets Jamaican PM, gifts over 10 BHISHM Cubes
Kingston (PTI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday met Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness and discussed ways to further deepen "political, economic and people-to-people cooperation."
Jaishankar also conveyed greetings from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Holness.
"Pleased to call on Prime Minister @AndrewHolnessJM in Kingston. Conveyed the greetings of PM @narendramodi," Jaishankar posted on X.
"Discussed deepening our political, economic and people-to-people cooperation. Value his commitment towards further strengthening India-Jamaica relations," the post further read.
Also, the external affairs minister handed over 10 BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita & Maitri) Cubes as a gift to Jamaica.
"Formally handed over 10 BHISHM Cubes as a gift from India to Jamaica, in the presence of PM @AndrewHolnessJM, Health Minister @christufton and FM @kaminajsmith," Jaishankar posted on X.
"The BHISHM Cube mobile hospital system, designed for rapid deployment, will help Jamaica during disasters and emergencies. The gift of these cubes is a statement of friendship, a commitment to disaster preparedness, and an outcome of innovation," the post said.
Jaishankar arrived in Kingston on Saturday evening, marking the first leg of his nine-day tour of Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, aimed at further strengthening India's strategic and cultural ties with the Caribbean nations.
Earlier in the day, he interacted with the Indian diaspora and discussed India's ongoing transformation in infrastructure, human development and technology-driven governance and entrepreneurship with them.
He also highlighted the cricket bond between both countries as India gifted a scoreboard to Jamaica.
A scoreboard was dedicated at Sabina Park in Kingston. It is the home of the Jamaica cricket team and is the only Test cricket ground in the Caribbean island nation.
The minister expressed hope that the new scoreboard would witness many memorable innings, including those symbolising the enduring friendship between the two countries.
Cricket has long been a strong cultural bridge between India and Jamaica, which is part of the West Indies cricket team.
Jamaican players, including Chris Gayle, Courtney Walsh and Michael Holding, have played a major role in shaping the legacy of West Indies cricket in the international arena, contributing to its dominance in earlier decades and its continued global appeal.
