Hours after Twitter said that it is concerned by therecent events regarding its employees in India, Delhi Police on Thursdayrubbished its claims and termed the statements of the microblogging giant asnot only "mendacious", but also designed to impede a lawful inquiryby a private enterprise.
The Delhi Police also said that Twitter has taken uponitself, in the garb of terms of service, to adjudicate the truth or otherwiseof documents in the public space.
"We have come across press reports that quoteTwitter making statements pertaining to the ongoing inquiry by Delhi Police.Prima facie, these statements are not only mendacious but also designed toimpede a lawful inquiry by a private enterprise. Twitter Inc. has taken uponitself, in the garb of terms of service, to adjudicate the truth or otherwiseof documents in public space," Delhi Police said in a statement.
The Delhi Police further said that Twitter is purportingto be both an investigating authority as well as an adjudicating judicialauthority.
"It has no legal sanction to be either. The onlylegal entity, so empowered by the duly laid down law, to investigate is thepolice and to adjudicate is the courts," the statement said.
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"However, since Twitter claims to have materialinformation the basis of which it not only 'investigated' but arrived at a'conclusion', it must share that information with the police. There should notbe any confusion about this logical course," it added.
The Delhi Police's statement came after Twitter onThursday requested the Information & Technology Ministry to consider aminimum of three months' extension in order for the company to implement thenew intermediary guidelines issued by the Centre, the deadline for whichexpired on May 25.
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The microblogging major, which saw the police land up atits offices in Delhi and Gurugram earlier this week related to the allegedCongress ‘toolkit' controversy, said that it reaffirms that Twitter continuesto accept grievances from the users and law enforcement via its existinggrievance redressal channel available under the new IT Rules.
Stressing that it will strive to comply with the applicable law in India, a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement that rightnow, "we are concerned by the recent events regarding our employees inIndia and the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people weserve".
"We, alongside many in the civil society in Indiaand around the world, have concerns with regards to the use of intimidationtactics by the police in response to enforcement of our global terms ofservice, as well as with core elements of the new IT Rules," Twitter saidin its first reaction after the police visits.
On Monday, Delhi Police visited Twitter India's localoffices in south Delhi's Lado Sarai and Gurugram to serve notice after thesocial media platform had marked one of the tweets of BJP spokesperson SambitPatra as "manipulated media".
Patra had shared the alleged toolkit of the Congress overCovid, accusing it of defaming the Prime Minister and the government.
The Delhi Police said that the entire conduct by Twitter,including its Indian entity, in the last few days has been "obfuscatory,diversionary and tendentious".
"There is one simple thing to do which Twitterrefuses to do. That is, cooperate with the law enforcement and reveal to thelegal authority the information it has," the police said.
The police also said that Twitter, being a publicplatform must lead by example in demonstrating transparency in itsfunctioning, which has a bearing on public discourse and should proactivelybring clarity into what are subject matters of the public domain.
The Delhi Police said that since the matter has been putin the public domain, it is important to set the record straight on the tendentiousstatements made by Twitter.
"First, Delhi Police have registered a preliminaryinquiry at the instance of a complaint filed by the representative of theCongress. Hence, the efforts of Twitter to portray that this is an FIR filed atthe behest of the government is wholly and completely incorrect," DelhiPolice said.
The police further said that secondly, Delhi Police isconducting a preliminary inquiry on the same and the matter is under investigation.
"Twitter, while placing the cart before the horse,went ahead and declared that the toolkit was 'Manipulated Media'. This clearlydemonstrates that Twitter was acquainted with the facts of the case and it hadmaterial information which was germane to the inquiry by a duly recognized lawenforcement agency. Therefore, Twitter was asked, by way of multiplecommunications, to join the inquiry to provide the information itpossesses," the Delhi Police said.
The police also said that the purpose of Twitter beingserved a notice to participate in the inquiry was to allow the investigation toproceed and bring all relevant matters on record.
"Twitter India's subsidiary TCIPL's ManagingDirector chose to adopt a path of evasiveness instead of cooperation," thepolice alleged.
Delhi Police said that initially, TCIPL's ManagingDirector had stated in his response that he was merely a sales head, and had norole whatsoever in any operations relating to the content and thereby refused tojoin the inquiry.
"It is to be noted that TCIPL's stance that itsManaging Director is a mere sales head runs contrary to his very own previouspress interviews, wherein he elaborately discussed Twitter's plans to devisemethods to identify abusive or manipulative content. The above interview makesit clear that Twitter India's convoluted stance is similar to a deer caught inthe headlights," the police claimed.
"Fourth, and last, the contrived fear-mongering byTwitter is unfounded and misplaced. The Managing Director of TCIPL was merelyserved a notice, not as an accused but to participate in the inquiry as Twitterclaims to have been acquainted with certain facts," the police said.
The Delhi Police had served a notice to Twitter India MDManish Maheshwari on May 21, asking him to appear before the police with allthe documents in the alleged Congress toolkit case.
"Twitter Inc's latest statements are devised to seekdubious sympathy when they themselves not only refuse to comply with the law ofthe land, but also claim to be in possession of material evidence but refuse toshare it with the duly recognized legal authority," the Delhi Policeadded.