Will Shut Down Facebook In India If It Doesn’t Cooperate In Probe: K’taka HC

The Karnataka High Court has verbally warned Facebook that it would shut down its operation in India if it does not cooperate with police investigation over a fake profile.

The case pertains to one Shailesh Kumar, an Indian national, currently imprisoned in Saudi Arabia over an alleged derogatory Facebook post made by him against the Saudi king and Islam. His wife, Kavitha, has complained to the local police that it was a fake profile of her husband from which the post was made.

The police failed to complete the investigation on the fake profile, which prompted Kavitha to approach the high court. Originally filed in 2021, her petition was heard by Justice Krishna S Dixit on Wednesday (June 14).

On Monday (June 12), the High Court had ordered, “The Commissioner of Police, Mangalore (Mangaluru), is directed to study the case papers and be present before the Court to answer as to why there has been arguably enormous delay in accomplishing the investigation of the matter when a citizen of this country is languishing in a jail of a foreign country after trial and conviction when his specific stand was that his Facebook account was hacked.”

The police commissioner, Kuldeep Kumar Jain and the investigating officer in the case were present in the High Court on Wednesday. Jain informed the High Court that the investigation has been delayed as Facebook did not cooperate with the police.

When the High Court questioned Facebook’s counsel, the counsel informed the court that he had no information about the exact location of the incident. This prompted the High Court to state that if the social media giant did not cooperate with the investigation, it would order its operations in India to shut down.

Facebook’s counsel has sought a week’s time to submit the required details, and the next hearing would be on June 22. The High Court has directed Facebook India to submit a detailed report on the incident. Further, the Karnataka High Court also arraigned Meta, Facebook’s parent company, as a party to the petition on May 29.

The Karnataka High Court has also directed the Centre to detail the steps taken to secure the Indian national who has been jailed in a foreign prison in a fake case.

The Fake Account Case

Kavitha’s complaint to the police stated that Shailesh had worked in Saudi Arabia for the past 25 years. He had put up a post in support of the Indian government’s Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizenship. Following a threatening call received by him, Shailesh deleted his Facebook account.

However, some miscreants allegedly created a fake account in his name and posted a derogatory post against the Saudi king and Islam. Following this post, Shailesh was arrested in Saudi Arabia, tried and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Based on the information he provided, his wife filed a police complaint about the fake profile in her husband’s name.