Facebook-owned Instagram on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that it had removed the objectionable posts on Hindu deities present on its social media platform. Representing Facebook, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi conveyed that the content had already been removed and assured that keeping in view the grievance raised by the petitioner, the respondents will not disseminate the copies of the petition to any unrelated third party.
As reported by TFI, Facebook was referring to the complaint filed against its subsidiary Instagram by a Delhi resident named Manish Singh for reportedly showing Hindu deity Bhagwan Shiva in a bad light. In the story section of Instagram, a GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) of Lord Shiva could be seen with a wine glass in one hand and a mobile phone in the other hand with a smirk on the face. Naturally, the Hindus on social media were enraged at the portrayal of their holy deity in such a lewd manner.
The complainant had alleged that the “accused (Instagram) was deliberately and intentionally hurting the feeling and sentiments of the millions and millions of Hindus, including the complainant, by portraying the Supreme God, Lord Shiva, in such a state.” Consequently, Manish demanded that a criminal case be registered against the CEO of Instagram and other officials under sections 153 and 295A of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
To bring the perpetrators who released the objectionable GIF on the platform, the petitioner’s lawyers argued in the court that Instagram must preserve all details associated with the concerned account so that these could be presented before the court to expose the identity of those behind these “objectionable” and posts, hurting the sentiments of the Hindu community.
As reported by TFI, after the deadline to adhere to the new IT guidelines elapsed last month on May 26, social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, and Twitter ran the risk of losing their status as “intermediaries” and could have become liable for criminal action if they did not comply with the revised regulations.
While initially, all the aforementioned companies tried to stall adhering to the policy change, the government used an iron fist to set things in motion. Although Facebook sent its subsidiary WhatsApp to the court to sue the government, it had to return empty-handed and accept the government’s decision.
With a grievance officer in place, the government and the authorities, along with the users can hold Instagram and the other big techs more efficiently for such cases, which otherwise would have been referred to the US officials of the company.