The Maharashtra government has told the Bombay High Court that Mumbai resident Sunaina Holey, charged for allegedly posting offensive tweets, could be considered a social media influencer, or a “professional tweeter”, who held considerable sway over public opinion as she has over 20,000 followers on Twitter, PTI reported on Monday.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Holey seeking to quash the three cases against her for allegedly making offensive statements about Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his son, state minister Aaditya Thackeray, on Twitter in July. On December 18, the Bombay High Court had directed the Maharashtra government and police not to take any action or file chargesheets in any of the cases against Holey till January 12.
During the previous hearing, Holey’s counsel Abhinav Chandrachud had appealed for relief, arguing that she was not a public figure who was capable of influencing a large number of people through her tweets. Chandrachud had also argued that Holey had not mentioned any particular community in her tweets and, therefore, no offence was made out against her.
Senior counsel Manoj Mohite, appearing for the Maharashtra government, countered the submission that Holey was an ordinary person and not a celebrity. He said, “Less than 0.2% of twitter users have more than 20,000 followers. Social media has been evidently seen to have spread misinformation.”
Besides, in her statement to the police, Holey informed them that “she was into liaisoning”, Mohite said. “Considering the circumstances of the case, I submit that she may be a professional tweeter,” he added. Mohite also countered Holey’s submission that offences against her are not made out. He said when she made those posts, the circumstances in existence did call for the first information report against her, according to The Times of India.
The advocate said that Holey was charged for one of her tweets suggesting that the coronavirus pandemic was caused by a particular political party. The tweet was flagged by a city police official who found it “objectionable” and an FIR was lodged, he said.
When the nationwide lockdown was just announced, “communal harmony was an issue” and hence, Holey was charged under section 153A of the Indian Penal Code on the charge of disrupting communal harmony and under several other charges, Mohite added. “There was utter confusion and chaos not only in the world, but in our country too,” he argued. “Everything was shut down. People were without food, shelter.”
In such circumstances, one of the tweets made by Holey in May had also led to large crowding at Bandra railway station in Mumbai, the counsel for the Maharashtra government further argued, reported India Today. “At a time when the lockdown situation was extremely bad, people were looking for a mode of transportation during lockdown and at that time she tweeted about Bandra and a video that she posted went viral,” Mohite said.
The matter will be heard again on Tuesday.
Also read:
Tweets against Thackerays: Bombay HC directs state not to take action against woman till January 12
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