Co-founder of news website The New Indian, Journalist Aarti Tikoo Singh has taken Twitter to the Delhi High Court for suspending her account. Saying that her rights under the constitution were violated and Twitter was siding with Islamist terrorists by locking her account, she had filed the petition seeking to quash the decision of Twitter. The platform had suspended Aarti’s Twitter account after she had shared a video of Islamist extremists sending ‘death threats’ to her brother on December 15, 2021.
In a tweet tagging Twitter, she had alleged that Twitter India is allowing ‘Pakistan sponsored terrorists’ to use the feature ‘twitter spaces’ to threaten Indians and hatch conspiracy theories against Kashmiri Pundits. In the tweet, she had posted a screen recording of a session titled ‘Stop Innocent Killings’ where the members were seen targeting Sahil Tikoo – Aarti’s brother. Sahil, who is a resident of Srinagar also happens to be the spokesperson of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha’s Jammu and Kashmir unit.
Quite clear @Twitter @TwitterIndia is allowing Pakistan sponsored terrorists to use @TwitterSpaces for terror related activities, to threaten Indians & to hatch conspiracies to kill Kashmiri Hindus like @TikooSahil_ in Kashmir. India @GoI_MeitY @MIB_India is sleeping & paralysed. pic.twitter.com/E2lcSIjYt2
— Aarti Tikoo (@AartiTikoo) December 15, 2021
While Twitter didn’t take any action against the hate spewed on Sahil Tikoo; in retaliation, it took down the tweet by Aarti for ‘violation of rules’ against ‘hateful conduct.’ Later on December 15, her account was temporarily restricted from making further posts. Twitter then flagged the journalist’s account citing its rules against hateful speech, under which, users are not allowed to “promote violence against, threaten or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or serious disease.”
As her Twitter account remains locked, Aarti Tikoo Singh has now approached the Delhi High court against Twitter asking the government to protect her fundamental right to speech and life. The plea filed through advocate Mukesh Sharma stated that the manner in which her brother was targeted by some participants was reminiscent of January 1990. However, she was shocked to see that Twitter served her a notice for this Tweet saying it went against their Rules on Hateful Conduct, the petition said.
Tikoo has said that her Tweet very clearly did not incite violence or hatred against any community, as alleged by Twitter, instead, she was reporting such an act against her brother. The petition said that by locking her account, Twitter is siding with Islamist terrorists. The petition said that Twitter’s action violates her rights under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India, and demanded that the decision of the social media company be quashed.
In an interview with the Republic, she said, “I have moved to the Delhi High Court with a writ petition, asking the GoI to protect my fundamental right to speech and life. The government is answerable to me. It is not just about Aarti Tikoo versus Twitter, it is about every Indian citizen whose freedom of speech is curtailed by Twitter on one pretext or another. Sometimes it is whimsical, sometimes it is the algorithm and other times it is T\witter’s own biases and prejudices against victims of Islamist terror”
Sahil Tikoo, to whom online threats continue to remain by Islamists, had filed an FIR with the Srinagar Police on December 18. In the video that emerged from the Twitter space, some members can be clearly heard targeting Tikoo, calling him a ‘collaborator’ and an ‘agent’ while pointing out his display picture with ‘war criminal’ Late Gen. Bipin Rawat.
