SC dismisses plea of senior advocate Hegde seeking transfer of case from Delhi HC
Suspension of Twitter account
New Delhi(PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by senior advocate Sanjay Hegde seeking transfer of his case, challenging the permanent suspension of his Twitter account for allegedly re-tweeting two posts, from the Delhi High Court to the top court.
A bench of Justices M R Shah and Hima Kohli also declined to interfere with his second plea against Karnataka High Court dismissing his plea seeking intervention in the petition filed by Twitter Inc challenging a series of blocking orders issued by the Centre.
"No case for transfer of cases is made out...Transfer petition stands dismissed. We are of the opinion that let there be one decision by one high court so that in future, this court would have advantage of at least one HC judgement," the bench said. The senior lawyer had approached the Delhi High Court in 2019 seeking directions to the Centre to lay down guidelines under the Information Technology (IT) Act to ensure that censorship on social media is carried out as per the Constitution.
He had filed the plea as his account on Twitter was permanently suspended by the social media company on November 5, 2019, allegedly in connection with two re-tweets by him, and sought restoration of his Twitter account.
The petition had said that before coming to court Hegde had followed the internal appeals procedure of Twitter, but his appeal was rejected.
He had also served a legal notice on the social media platform, but no response was received to the same, it said. In its note, Twitter had contended that suspension of Hegde's account was a contractual dispute and there was no positive obligation on it to provide its service.
The Delhi High Court is currently seized of Hegde's case and is likely hear the matter on December 19.
The Karnataka High Court had October 17, 2022 rejected Hegde's plea seeking intervention in a case filed by microblogging site Twitter.
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Nightclub fire: Goa court remands Luthra brothers in police custody for five days
Panaji (PTI): A court in North Goa on Wednesday remanded Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra, co-owners of the ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ nightclub, in police custody for five days.
The brothers, brought to Goa from Delhi after being deported from Thailand in connection with the December 6 blaze that killed 25, were produced in the court after undergoing health check-ups twice at the District Hospital in North Goa.
Judicial Magistrate First Class Mapusa Puja Sardesai remanded the two brothers in police custody for five days.
Advocate Vishnu Joshi, representing Bhavana Joshi who lost four family members in the tragedy, said that the accused were asking for “special consideration” claiming poor health.
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“We said they should not be given any extra relaxation,” he said, adding that the court has taken cognisance of the fact that this is about the death of “25 people in the form of mass genocide”.
“But since they kept pressing for medical check-up, the court ordered reexamination of their health. It is clear in the medical examination that they don’t require any consideration. The accused sought special considerations in the lock-up like a good mattress, which the court refused,” said Joshi.
A team of the Goa Police, along with the Luthra brothers, arrived at the Manohar International Airport, Mopa, in North Goa at 10.45 am.
The duo was initially taken to a Primary Health Centre at Siolim for medical examination. They were then taken to the District Hospital at Mapusa.
After their health assessment, the two were brought to the court.
The court directed that the accused be sent for fresh medical examination. Accordingly, the two were again taken to the District Hospital.
Later, they were produced before Judge Sardesai, who ordered the five-day police custody of the accused.
After the fire tragedy at Arpora village, the Anjuna police had registered a case against the Luthra brothers on various charges, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The brothers were arrested in Delhi on Tuesday after being deported from Thailand. A court there allowed the Goa Police their two-day transit remand.
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The duo had fled to Phuket in Thailand early on December 7, hours after the fire at their nightclub, prompting the authorities to issue an Interpol Blue Corner Notice and cancel their passports.
They were detained by Thai authorities at Phuket on December 11 following a request from the Indian government, which later coordinated with officials in Thailand to deport them under legal treaties between the two nations.
Five managers and staff members have already been arrested by the Goa Police in connection with the fire.
