The Supreme Court is expected to rule on a petition filed by Facebook, challenging the summonses issued by the Delhi Assembly’s peace and harmony committee, on Thursday. The notices were issued in a case involving the riots in northeast Delhi last year.
Ajit Mohan, vice president and managing director of Facebook India Online Services Pvt Ltd, and Facebook Inc. filed the complaint. It challenges the committee’s notices issued on September 10 and 18 of last year, requesting Mohan’s appearance as a witness before the panel investigating the Delhi riots in February and Facebook’s role in the spread of alleged hate speeches.
On February 24, a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari, and Hrishikesh Roy reserved their decision in the case.
During the apex court hearings, Mohan’s lawyer stated that the “right to silence” is a virtue in these “noisy times.” The counsel also questioned the Delhi assembly’s jurisdiction, claiming that it lacked the legislative authority to establish a panel to investigate the issue of peace and harmony.
In the Supreme Court, senior advocate Harish Salve is representing a Facebook official. He also noted that establishing the peace panel was not a core function of the Delhi assembly because law and order issues in the national capital fell under the jurisdiction of the Centre.
AM Singhvi, a senior advocate who was representing the assembly panel, responded by saying that the assembly has the authority to summon.
The Delhi assembly also clarified in an affidavit that Mohan has not been summoned for a breach of privilege. It also stated that no coercive action had been taken against Mohan and that he had only been summoned to appear as a witness by its committee.
