Punjab Police have moved court seeking the removal of two posts on social media site “X”, allegedly targeting the Punjab director general of police (DGP) and a senior woman police officer.
He sought contempt of court proceedings against X Communications for allegedly failing to comply with the order. The state cyber crime police station approached the Mohali court after X did not act on its October 26 order directing the platform to block or delete the two posts. The police told the court that they had sent a request to the platform under Section 79(3)(b) (removes safe harbour legal immunity for online intermediaries if they fail to remove unlawful content after being notified) of the Information Technology Act but received no action. The order, however, has not been complied with by the platform and on October 28, SHO inspector Daljit Singh appeared before the court and reported non-compliance.
In its application, the cyber police said the posts targeted senior Punjab Police officials, including the DGP, and sought their removal.
The advocate’s posts allege that the woman officer had come from Mohali to pick up the DGP and later dropped him at an isolated location in Chandigarh. The post further alleged that the vehicle stopped behind Saraf’s car for more than five minutes before taking a U-turn on the wrong side of the road and leaving.
The woman officer was behind the wheel and the two senior officers were travelling without a driver or security personnel, according to the advocate.
The court of Rupinder Singh, additional chief judicial magistrate, that heard the case on October 28, adjourned it for November 2 and granted the platform four more days for compliance, further recording that appropriate proceedings would be initiated in the event of non-compliance. Saraf, was also a petitioner in the public interest litigation (PIL) that prompted Punjab and Haryana high court to order investigation into allegations of corruption against senior officers in Punjab chief minister’s office.
