November 05, 2024 22:04 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy booked for threatening cop probing into mining case | Supreme Court upholds validity of Uttar Pradesh Madrasa Education Act | Not all private properties are community resources that govt can take over: Supreme Court | Pakistan's Lahore has become world's most polluted city with an AQI of 1900 on Sunday | Indian Army 'successfully completes' patrolling to a key point in Ladakh's Depsang region
Twitter makes u-turn after deleting Haryana Minister Anil Vij's tweet on Disha Ravi
Anil Vij
Image Credit: Video grab from Twitter

Twitter makes u-turn after deleting Haryana Minister Anil Vij's tweet on Disha Ravi

| @indiablooms | 15 Feb 2021, 11:47 pm

New Delhi/IBNS: Hours after deleting a tweet by Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij where he wrote "seeds of anti-nationalism... should be destroyed..." in connection with arrested activist Disha Ravi, the Twitter on Monday afternoon said the same "is not subject to removal" under rules governing extreme speech online.

Initially, Twitter had sent a notice to Vij claiming that his tweet was deleted based on a complaint from a user in Germany.

The complaint was under Germany's Network Enforcement Act - which obliges social network providers to delete unlawful content within a short timeframe.

In a Hindi tweet, the Haryana Home Minister wrote: "If seeds of anti nationalism have been sown in somebody's thought process, he/she should be destroyed from roots... whether she is Disha Ravi or anyone else."

Hours later, Twitter made a u-turn and said the tweet by the minister is not subjected to removal under the guidelines of the microblogging site.

In the screenshot shared by Vij, a message from Twitter reads: "Twitter is required by German law to provide notice to users who are reported by people from Germany via the Network Enforcement Act reporting flow... We have investigated the reported content and have found that it is not subject to removal under the Twitter rules."

However, late on Monday night, a complaint was filed in Bengaluru seeking registration of an FIR against Vij for "his hateful statement calling for the killing of Disha Ravi on Twitter".

The complaint was filed a group called Campaign Against Hate Speech.

The Delhi Police on Sunday arrested the 22-year-old activist from Bengaluru in connection to the "toolkit" shared by teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and others on Twitter to show support for the ongoing farmers' protest against the Indian government's farm laws.

Ravi is one of the founders of the "Friday for Future" campaign.

It has been alleged that she edited the toolkit and sent it ahead.

In a court, Ravi, who has been accused of being the main conspirator, denied preparing the toolkit.

"I did not make the Toolkit. We wanted to support the farmers. I edited two lines on February 3," she had told the court.

On Monday during the media briefing, the police said that evidence against Disha Ravi was found from her cellphone data.

The entire row started when the Delhi Police lodged an FIR on Feb 4 against the toolkit that was tweeted by Thunberg while she expressed her support to the Indian protesting farmers.

Her tweet followed the violence and chaos that erupted in the national capital during the protesting farmers' tractor rally on Jan 26.

One farmer was killed and more than 100 police personnel were injured during the tractor rally by the farmers, who are protesting against the Centre's agricultural reforms, on the country's Republic Day on Jan 26.

The Delhi Police said the toolkit was found on a social media handle ahead of the violence and indicates a conspiracy behind the chaos on Jan 26.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.