Court declines to save army officer’s Facebook account
An Indian Army officer has challenged the recent ban on social media

The header image of the Indian Army’s official Facebook page | Source: ADGPI – Indian Army on Facebook

The Delhi High Court has denied any temporary relief to a serving officer in the Indian army who has filed a petition challenging the army’s ban on the use of Facebook by its personnel in order to allow him to keep his Facebook account.

Lieutenant Colonel P.K. Choudhary asked for interim relief and be allowed to maintain his account in deactivated form until the next date of hearing, saying all the data and contacts in his account would be lost irretrievably and irreversibly.

“The counsel for the petitioner seeks interim relief of relieving the petitioner from the mandate of being required to delete any existing social media accounts. It is contended that the same has been directed to be deleted by 15th July, 2020,” observed the court in its order.

“Till we have found reason to entertain the petition and have entertained the petition, the question of granting any such interim relief does not arise especially when the matter has the potential of concerning the safety and security of the country,” said the bench.

The court will hear the matter again on July 21st after examining the policy of the army.

“We are of the view that the counsels be heard after we have had an occasion to peruse the policy and if the document prescribing the policy does not record the reasons therefore, the document containing the reasons for the policy,” said the order of the court, adding, “The said document/s be circulated in a sealed cover, to both of us, either through the High Court or directly at our respective residences, at least a day before the next date of hearing.”

Interestingly, the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted the government’s counsel, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma as saying ‘We found that Facebook was a bug. It was infiltrating as a cyber warfare and there were so many instances of personnel being targeted.”

PTI also reported the ASG as saying that petitioner was free to use WhatsApp, Skype and Twitter, instead.

Colonel Choudhary, who is posted in Jammu and Kashmir had questioned the Army’s move to ban personnel from owning and maintaining Facebook accounts. A recent order directed all army personnel to delete their Facebook accounts as part of a ban on 89 social media, messaging, dating, file-sharing and e-commerce websites and platforms.

The officer says the army’s order violates the fundamental rights of soldiers guaranteed under the Constitution. ”

“It is submitted that the Policy to the extent that it bans use of various social networking platforms by Soldiers and directs Soldiers to delete their accounts on Facebook, is illegal, arbitrary, disproportionate, violates the fundamental rights of Soldiers including but not limited to the freedom of speech and expression, the right to life and the right to privacy. Moreover, the restrictions imposed vide the Policy ex-facie violate article 14 of the Constitution,” said the petition.

Colonel Choudhary also criticised the army’s Director General of Military Intelligence as Respondent No. 2 in his petition, saying, “The Respondent No.2 has conveniently shifted its own burden and responsibility to regulate use of social networking platforms onto the Soldiers, assuming that it has unfettered power to abrogate and restrict the fundamental rights of Soldiers,” adding, “That the ban on using social networking platforms and order to delete accounts vide the Policy will do more harm than good in addressing the issue of data and security breach contemplated by Respondent No.2.”