The Delhi High Court fined a woman named Dimple Kaul Rs 25,000 on Friday after she submitted a request to include Twitter’s new owner and billionaire Elon Musk as a party in a case involving the suspension of her Twitter account.
At the start of the hearing, single-judge Justice Yashwant Varma asked the petitioner’s lawyer if he is serious about proceeding with the application. As the counsel stated that he has received instructions to proceed, the judge denied the application by calling it ‘highly misconceived’ and noted that Twitter was already represented in the matter.
#DelhiHighCourt dismisses with 25K cost an application seeking impleadment of #ElonMusk in a plea concerning suspension of #twitter account.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) November 4, 2022
“The application is thoroughly misconceived. The same is dismissed with 25K cost,” Justice Yashwant Varma said. pic.twitter.com/lCAKJtDdYl
“This application is thoroughly misconceived. The authority is represented and therefore, there was no need to move this application. The application is dismissed with a cost of Rs 25,000”, the order by Court read. The court said that the corporate entity Twitter is already represented in the case, and there is no need to add its new owner to the same.
Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya who represented Twitter in the case argued against Elon Musk’s impleading. Kaul had applied to include Musk as a respondent in an already pending petition. According to the application, filed through advocate Mukesh Sharma and argued by Raghav Awasthi, Twitter nowadays has moved into Musk’s hands and its shares are no longer traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The advocate said that now Musk is the sole director of the company and he holds all shares of it.
It further stated that Musk takes a very different stance on free speech, and he has stated several times that free speech should not be restricted by Twitter as long as it does not breach the laws of the nation in question. Kaul filed the original petition, claiming that she used her account to post educational content on literature, women’s rights, Indian culture, nonviolence, equality, politics, and history.
However, her account was suspended without notice, in violation of the rules and Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Indian Constitution, as it affects her right to free expression. On January 31, 2022, the High Court issued notices on her plea.
