Crocodile tears, police rebuff fake concerns
The Delhi Police on Thursday said Twitter’s latest statements on ongoing enquiry in toolkit are devised to seek dubious sympathy when they themselves not only refuse to comply with the law but also claim to be in possession of material evidence which they refuse to share with legal authority.
The strongly-worded statement by the Delhi Police came after Twitter on Thursday called the visit by the Delhi Police to its offices a form of intimidation and said it was concerned about its employees and the potential threat to freedom of expression.
An official statement issued by Chinmoy Biswal, the Public Relation Officer (PRO) of Delhi Police stated that prima facie, these statements are not only mendacious but designed to impede a lawful inquiry by a private enterprise.
“Twitter Inc. has taken upon itself, in the garb of terms of service, to adjudicate the truth or otherwise of documents in public space. Twitter Inc. is purported to be both an investigating authority as well as an adjudicating judicial authority. It has no legal sanction to be either. The only legal entity, so empowered by the duly laid down law, to investigate is the Police and to adjudicate is the Courts,” it stated.
“However, since Twitter Inc. claims to have material information basis which it not only ‘investigated’ but arrived at a ‘conclusion’, it must share that information with the police. There should not be any confusion about this logical course,” it stated.
“The entire conduct by Twitter Inc, including its Indian entity, in the last few days has been obfuscator, diversionary and tendentious.
There is one simple thing to do which Twitter refuses to do. That is, cooperate with the law enforcement and reveal to the legal authority the information it has,” it further stated.
“Twitter, being a public platform, must lead by example in demonstrating transparency in its functioning which has a bearing on public discourse and should proactively bring clarity into what are subject matters of public domain. Since the matter has been put in public domain, it is important to set the record straight on the tendentious statements made,” said Biswal.
The Delhi Police said it have registered a preliminary inquiry in the “toolkit” case at the instance of a complaint filed by the representative of the Indian National Congress.
“Hence, the efforts by Twitter Inc. that portray this as an FIR filed at the behest of the Government of India is wholly and completely incorrect,” said Biswal.