Supreme Court seeks Centre's response on AAP's plea to restore FB, Insta accounts of its Gujarat unit

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the Union government's response to an application filed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) seeking restoration of the Facebook page and Instagram handle of its Gujarat unit, which were blocked shortly before the local body elections in the State.

A Bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe issued notice on the application after the Union government sought two weeks' time to file its response.

Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for AAP, submitted that the Gujarat unit's Facebook page and Instagram handle were blocked on April 24, a day before the local body elections in the State.

He pointed out that while the main petition was tagged with connected matters raising the broader challenge to the blocking regime, the present interim application was confined to seeking restoration of the party's social media accounts pending adjudication of the main case.

Farasat argued that AAP was willing, without prejudice to its rights and contentions, to remove any specific post found offending if the accounts themselves were restored.

"My website is gone. It can't be like that," he submitted.

Appearing for the Union government, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Archana Pathak Dave sought two weeks' time to file a reply to the interim application.

Justice Narasimha then directed that notice be issued on the interim application.

According to the petition, Meta informed AAP that access to the Gujarat unit's Facebook page and Instagram handle had been restricted in India pursuant to a request from a government or law enforcement agency under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

AAP moved the Court alleging that the blocking direction was never supplied to it and that the accounts were blocked without notice, hearing or a reasoned order.

The party's plea argued that blocking the entire Facebook page and Instagram handle of a recognised national political party, instead of restricting any specific offending content, amounts to a disproportionate restriction on political speech and violates the principles of natural justice and proportionality.

Senior Advocate Shadan Farasat with advocates Siddhant Sharma and Talha Abdul Rahman appeared for AAP.

[Read Live Coverage]