Linking of user profile with Aadhaar: SC agrees to hear Facebook's plea for transfer of cases
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a plea of Facebook Inc for transfer of cases related to demands for linking of social media profiles of users with Aadhaar number, pending before the high courts of Madras, Bombay and Madhya Pradesh to the apex court.
The top court issued notice to the Centre, Google, Twitter, YouTube and others and sought their response by September 13.
A bench of justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose said the notices to the unserved parties should be sent through e-mail.
The bench said the hearing in cases related to linkage of social media use profiles with Aadhaar pending before the Madras High Court will continue but no final order will be passed.
The apex court on Monday was told by the Tamil Nadu government that social media profiles of users need to be linked with Aadhaar numbers to check circulation of fake, defamatory and pornographic content as also anti-national and terror material.
Facebook Inc is resisting the state's suggestion on grounds that sharing of 12-digit Aadhaar number, the Biometric Unique Identity, would violate privacy policy of users.
Facebook Inc had said that it cannot share the Aadhaar number with a third party as the content on its instant messaging Whatsapp was end-to-end encrypted and even they do not have access to it.
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Punjab CM condemns attack on Sukhbir Badal, lauds cops for prompt action
Chandigarh (PTI): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann strongly condemned the attack on Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was fired at while performing 'sewa' outside the Golden Temple on Wednesday morning, and directed police to investigate the incident.
The chief minister also lauded the promptness of the Punjab Police in nabbing the attacker.
The man missed Badal as he was overpowered by police. The audacious attack was captured on cameras of media persons who had gathered outside the Sikh shrine to cover the second day of Badal's penance for "mistakes" committed by the SAD government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017.
"Punjab Police prevented a major incident from happening today. It is the result of the promptness of the Punjab Police that the conspiracy to defame Punjab and Punjabis has failed," Mann said in a post on X.
"The police achieved great success by arresting the assailant on the spot with their promptness... I strongly condemn the attack on Sukhbir Badal ji. I have issued strict instructions to the police to immediately investigate the incident and submit a report," he added.
Police identified the shooter as Narain Singh Chaura, a resident of Dera Baba Nanak. After the attack, he was whisked away by security officials.
Television footage showed the shooter slowly walking towards Badal, who was sitting in a wheelchair due to a fractured leg, and pulling out a gun from his pocket. A police official in plainclothes standing near Badal quickly intervened and grabbed the attacker's hands. In the melee, a bullet hit the wall behind Badal, who escaped unhurt.
