The Delhi High Court has been informed that satirical Twitter handle Dr Nimo Yadav has been blocked in India on the orders of the Central government after the account was found to be “spreading false narratives involving the Prime Minister” and “portraying him in bad taste”.
This came to light after X (formerly Twitter) submitted material before the Court on Monday. The material included the confidential blocking order issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) on March 18. The document was shared with the Court as well as petitioner Prateek Sharma, the operator of the X account.
The blocking order, seen by Bar & Bench, said that the Dr Nimo Yadav account contains defamatory posts in which photographs, videos and AI-manipulated content were used to create controversial posts questioning the government and defaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It also states that that spreading such false information may affect public order, leading to internal security threats.
The document was furnished by X before Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, who is hearing the plea filed by Sharma seeking production of the government’s blocking order.
It is Sharma’s case that the continued blocking of his account has resulted in loss of income and disruption of professional engagements, as the account serves as a source of livelihood for him.
As per the documents furnished in Court today, along with Sharma's account, 11 other Twitter handles were also blocked on the government's order of March 18 under the Information Technology Act (IT Act).
Counsel for Sharma said that if they are informed about the offending material, they would take necessary steps if required.
Counsel appearing for the government asked the Court for some time to ascertain whether there exists any mechanism through which the petitioner’s grievance can be effectively considered.
Justice Kaurav granted the time to the government counsel and said that he would hear the matter next week.
Advocates Vrinda Grover, Nakul Gandhi, Apar Gupta and Soutik Banerjee appeared for Sharma.
Advocate Ankit Parhar appeared for Twitter.
The Central government was represented through Advocate Avshreya Rudy.