Delhi HC asks police to summon members of WhatsApp groups linked to JNU violence, seize their phones

Manglore Today News Network

New Delhi, Jan 14, 2020:  The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the police to seize phones of members of the two WhatsApp groups on which JNU violence was allegedly coordinated.

 

The Delhi High Court asked police to summon the witness and seize mobile phones of the members of the two WhatsApp groups, ’Friends of RSS’ and ’Unity against Left’.

Hearing a plea filed by JNU professors Ameet Parameswaran, Atul Sood and Shukla Vinayak Sawant seeking directions to the Delhi Police Commissioner and Delhi government, the Delhi High Court also asked WhatsApp and Google to preserve and provide information related to the JNU violence to police.

Justice Brijesh Sethi directed the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration to provide at the earliest the CCTV footage of the violence sought by police.

Delhi Police had earlier informed the court that it has asked the JNU administration to preserve and hand over the CCTV footage of the violence but had not received any response from the university.

The court was informed by Delhi government Standing Counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra that police has written to the concerned authority in the varsity for preserving footage of 135 CCTVs installed there.

He said police had also written to WhatsApp to preserve data, including messages, pictures, videos and phone numbers of members, of two groups -- ’Unity Against Left’ and ’Friends of RSS’ -- on the social networking platform on which the attack was allegedly coordinated.

On January 5, a mob of masked men stormed the campus and targeted students in three hostels, unleashing mayhem with sticks, stones and iron rods by hitting inmates and breaking windows, furniture and personal belongings.

Three FIRs have been registered at Vasant Kunj (north) police station in connection with the incident.

The Delhi High Court had on Monday asked the Delhi government and the police to respond to a plea of three JNU professors seeking that data, CCTV footage and other evidence relating to the January 5 violence on the varsity campus be preserved.

Senior advocate Rebecca John and Akhil Sibal, appearing for the petitioner professors, sought an urgent interim relief that WhatsApp be directed to preserve the data of the two groups as they could delete the material evidence.

The court, however, said on Monday it would pass any such order only after hearing the parties. No one on behalf of WhatsApp, Google and Apple was present in the court.

The plea claimed it was evident that a significant amount of data, information, evidence and material pertaining to the said incident of violence, including persons with their registered phone numbers responsible for the same, was communicated through WhatsApp platform, and its data back-up is an important evidence in respect of the incidents of violence.

The plea said the petitioners apprehend that in the absence of a direction from the court or the police commissioner, the relevant evidence may not be properly preserved.

It claimed that as per the knowledge of the petitioners as well as news reports, the police has not yet retrieved CCTV footage, which is crucial evidence.

Courtesy:India Today