Twitter Blocks Mumbai Regional Congress Committee’s Account For ‘violating Rules’
IT Correspondent
Mumbai, Aug 12:
The Congress party on Thursday alleged that its official Twitter handle has been blocked by the microblogging site for ‘violation of rules’ and alleged that Twitter was acting under govt pressure’. While the “INCIndia” Twitter handle is accessible for viewing the tweets, it is likely that the party is unable to post more tweets due to the suspension.
“It has already blocked 5000 accounts of our leaders and workers across India. They need to understand we can’t be pressurised by Twitter or govt,” Rohan Gupta, social media head, AICC said. Earlier, Congress alleged that Twitter blocked the handles of party leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala, Manickam Tagore, Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev, Assam in-charge and former Union minister Jitendra Singh Alwar.
Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter handle suspended for posting photos of rape victim’s kin
Last week, the microblogging site blocked Rahul Gandhi’s official Twitter handle citing a violation of its policies. The action came after Gandhi posted a photograph of the kin of a 9-year-old rape victim. The National Council for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) also sent a notice to Gandhi and urged Delhi Police as well as Twitter to act against the Wayanad MP under the stringent POCSO Act.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor slammed Twitter and said that the suspension of Rahul Gandhi’s account raises concerns of ‘bias’. “Action taken against a prominent Opposition leader raises obvious concerns of selectivity and bias. I urge @Twitter to restore @RahulGandhi’s account, review the policy of automatic suspensions and show more sensitivity to public concerns. Focus on what happened to the girl, not a pic!” he said in a tweet.
In Mumbai, the official account of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) was blocked by the microblogging platform twitter for alleged violation of its rules and regulations on Wednesday. Although the twitter is yet to reveal details of which rules were flouted, MRCC has already placed its objection to it. The MRCC Working President Charan Singh Sapra said that the committee would write a mail to Twitter on Thursday, to raise its objections.
A petition has already been filed in the Delhi high court seeking legal action against Gandhi by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and Twitter for violating Section 74 of the JJ Act and Section 23 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The plea, filed by social activist Makarand Suresh Mhadlekar through advocates Pankaj and Gautam Jha, alleged that the Congress scion violated section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act by sharing the picture of the family of the Delhi rape victim
The petition will come up for further hearing before the bench comprising Chief Justice D N Patel and Jyoti Singh on September 27.
