The Uttar Pradesh Police has sent a notice to Manish Maheshwari, Managing Director of Twitter, for “provoking communal unrest” in the case involving an assault on a Muslim man in Ghaziabad earlier this month. Twitter›s India head Manish Maheshwari, has been asked to report to a police station at Loni Border near Delhi and record his statement within seven days, the notice said
The notice addressed to Maheshwari said: “Some people used Twitter as a platform to spread animosity and hatred among people. Twitter did not take cognisance of such messages and rather encouraged such messages that sought to spread enmity and affect harmony among communities in the country/states. Such messages were also allowed to go viral. The case is being investigated and your participation is mandatory.”
Speaking to The Daily Guardian, Superintendent of Police (Rural), Ghaziabad, Iraj Raja said: “We have sent a notice to Twitter, if there is no response, further action will be taken.”
The FIR names Twitter Inc, Twitter Communications India, news website The Wire, journalists Mohammed Zubair and Rana Ayyub, Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani, Shama Mohamed and writer Saba Naqvi.