On Wednesday, June 14, the Karnataka High Court warned social media giant Facebook over its alleged non-cooperation in the probe pertaining to an Indian man jailed in Saudi Arabia. Justice Krishna S Dixit warned that Facebook’s operation in India would be halted if they refuse to cooperate. The next hearing on the matter is slated for June 22.
According to reports, while hearing a petition filed by Kavitha, a resident of Bikarnakatte near Mangalore, a bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit warned Facebook. “The complete report with all required information should be submitted to the court within a week,” Justice Dixit stated.
In addition, the court stated that the Central Government should provide details about what action has been taken in the matter of the false arrest of an Indian person. The court ordered Mangaluru police to conduct a probe and submit a report and adjourned the hearing until June 22. In her petition, Kavitha stated that her husband, Shailesh Kumar (52) worked for a company in Saudi Arabia for 25 years, while she lived in her hometown with their children in Mangaluru.
She claimed that her husband wrote a Facebook post in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in 2019. Unidentified persons, however, created a fake Facebook account in his name and wrote offensive messages against the King of Saudi Arabia and Islam. Kumar alerted the family as soon as he became aware of the predicament, and Kavitha filed a police complaint in Mangaluru. Shailesh Kumar, on the other hand, had been arrested and imprisoned by Saudi police.
The Mangaluru police investigating the case sent a letter to Facebook requesting information on the creation of the bogus Facebook account. Facebook, on the other hand, did not respond to the police. In 2021, the petitioner moved the High Court, questioning the tardiness in the probe into the matter.