NEW DELHI: Delhi Police’s IFSO unit has directed X Corp to remove or disable access to specified protest-related posts within three hours of receiving a takedown notice, alleging that the videos present police intervention without the context of preceding obstruction and resistance.
The notice, dated October 5 and numbered 301/TD-Jt. CP/IFSO, lists 11 post URLs.
View the source post on X
According to the police account set out in the notice, personnel were deployed at a protest to maintain law and order and prevent escalation. Police alleged that some protesters pushed against personnel, removed or jumped over barricades and tried to proceed despite directions to comply with restrictions imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
The notice says police restrained or detained the people concerned after they allegedly failed to cooperate and continued to obstruct or resist personnel. It alleges that the circulated videos depict the subsequent intervention as misconduct or unnecessary force while leaving out the events that led to it.
Police argued that this incomplete presentation could misrepresent officers’ conduct, provoke public reaction and weaken confidence in law-and-order measures. The notice also claims that continued reposting and sharing could heighten tensions, spread misinformation and lead to further confrontation.
The communication invokes Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. It also refers to Rule 7 and possible consequences for an intermediary’s statutory protection if the rules are not observed. These provisions are cited in the police notice as the basis for its request.
A table in the notice identifies statements conducive to public mischief, false information or rumours and defamation as the reasons for treating the material as unlawful. It cites Sections 353(1)(b) and 356(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Alongside the three-hour removal direction, X was instructed to preserve relevant data, logs and subscriber information for evidence and to avoid compromising the evidence. The direction concerns the specified URLs; it does not state that the accounts themselves must be deleted.
