The Supreme Court has allowed the Delhi Legislative Assembly’s Peace and Harmony Committee (PHC) to summon Facebook India’s officials to seek information for their alleged role in the 2020 Delhi riots. However, Facebook officials are free to not answer questions over law and order or any issue which falls outside the legislative domain of the Assembly.
In a clear delineation of constitutional powers, a 3-judge bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul held that though the Assembly has the legislative competence to examine a pervasive impact of rights, it can’t encroach into subjects beyond its scope. The court noted that the national capital can ill-afford a repetition of the occurrence and “the role of Facebook in this context must be looked into by the powers that be.”
Refusing to read the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi Act in isolation, the top court held that the objective of peace goes much beyond law and order and police, the areas to which the Delhi government doesn’t have any powers to adjudicate.
The court dismissed the “premature” petition filed by Facebook India’s chief Ajit Mohan as nothing had happened before the committee while upholding the power of privilege of an assembly as part of its constitutional character and its right to seek information on peace and harmony.
The court took a dim view of the statement made by the PHC Chairperson, Delhi MLA Raghav Chadha, in a press conference that accused Facebook of having a vested interest in the Delhi riots. The court held that statement shouldn’t have been made as it wasn’t conducive to the committee’s proceedings and may have lead to apprehensions in Ajit Mohan’s mind which prompted him to move court.
The court order notes that the power and potentiality of intermediaries, including Facebook, is wide and social media platforms have the power to influence people across borders. The judgement also refers to the fact that debates and posts on social media platforms have the potential to polarise society, as many people don’t have the wherewithal to verify the veracity of the content
