IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS (Special Original Jurisdiction) W.P.No. OF 2020 L.K.Charles Alexander S/o.B.Lawrance Kannan, No.27/1,Welcome colony, Anna Nagar west, Chennai-600 101. …Petitioner -Vs- 1] The Secretary to Government Government of India, Ministry of Information and Technology Department, North Block, New Delhi-110 001. 2] The Secretary to Government Government of Tamilnadu, Ministry of Information and Technology Departmnent, Fort.St.George, Secretariat, Chennai-600 009. 3] The Secretary to the Government Government of Tamil Nadu, Fort.St.George, Secretariat, Chennai-600 009. 4] The Chief Secretary to the Government Government of Tamil Nadu, Fort.St.George, Secretariat, Chennai-600 009. 5] The Secretary to the Government Government of Tamil Nadu, Revenue & Disaster Management Department, Fort.St.George, Secretariat, Chennai-600 009. …Respondents AFFIDAVIT OF THE PETITIONER I, L.K.Charles Alexander, son
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
(Special Original Jurisdiction)
W.P.No. OF 2020
L.K.Charles Alexander
S/o.B.Lawrance Kannan,
No.27/1,Welcome colony,
Anna Nagar west,
Chennai-600 101. …Petitioner
-Vs-
1] The Secretary to Government
Government of India,
Ministry of Information and Technology Department,
North Block,
New Delhi-110 001.
2] The Secretary to Government
Government of Tamilnadu,
Ministry of Information and Technology Departmnent,
Fort.St.George,
Secretariat,
Chennai-600 009.
3] The Secretary to the Government
Government of Tamil Nadu,
Fort.St.George,
Secretariat,
Chennai-600 009.
4] The Chief Secretary to the Government
Government of Tamil Nadu,
Fort.St.George,
Secretariat,
Chennai-600 009.
5] The Secretary to the Government
Government of Tamil Nadu,
Revenue & Disaster Management Department,
Fort.St.George,
Secretariat,
Chennai-600 009.
…Respondents
AFFIDAVIT OF THE PETITIONER
I, L.K.Charles Alexander, son of B.Lawrence Kannan, Christian, aged about 40 years, residing at No.27/1, Welcome Colony, AnnaNagar West, Chennai-600 101, do hereby solemnly affirm and sincerely state as follows.
1] I am the petitioner herein and as such I know the facts and circumstances of the case.
2] I humbly submit that I am the Practicing Lawyer before this Hon’ble Court and also in various court in Chennai City and I am having my office at Door.27/1, Welcome Colony, Anna Nagar (West), Chennai-600 101. I have enrolled with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and my Enrollment Number is E.No.253 of 2015. After the said Enrollment I have practiced as Junior with my Senior up to the year, 2018 and thereafter, I have started my independent practice by attending various cases in all courts in Chennai City.
3] I state that for the past 6 months, the entire world is affected by Novel Corona Virus (Hereinafter it is called as COVID-19) and the said Virus killed the somany lives in the entire world. The said Coronavirus Disease-2019 is potentially acute respiratory infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2). The said virus was identified as the cause of an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, in December, 2019. The clinical presentation is that of a respiratory infection with a symptom severity ranging from a mild common cold-like illness, to a severe viral pneumonia leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome that is potentially fatal. In this regard, the Infection Prevention and Control Standard Operating Procedure was laid by the Hospital Infection Control Committee, JIPMER i.e., how to prevent the said Disease and also about how to prevent the said Virus from spreading to others i.e., person to person and the central government has taking many steps to eradicate the covid-19 pandemic Situation.
4] I state that today the usage of social media is increasing day by day and from 5 year child to 80 year senior citizens are using smart phone and it is very well known to all and the American based three companies namely YouTube has 265 million active users and more than 1500 and plus YouTube channels are available with 1 million viewers in India and with regard to the TWITTER more than 13.5 million users are using and Facebook has 241 millions of users and India stands first in the world in using the Facebook while so the useing of the social media is increasing day by day and the news, messages, videos, documents and information including personal videos which reach very fast when compared to other modes which are available in our country and the social media creates adirect impact everywhere in the society and all the information private or public instantly transferred.
5] I state that it is the fact that the usage of the social media in our country and by using this social media easily the leaders of our country, freedom fighters, religions, and even as of now abusing of gods are also made easily available and viewable to everyone in Tamilnadu a YouTube channel namely “Karupar Kootam” who often criticizes and say that there is no god existing in this world has defamed, abused Lord Muruga and Kanda Shashti Kavacham or Skanda Sashti Kavasam is a Hindu devotional song composed in Tamil by Devaraya Swamigal (born c. 1820), a student of Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai, on Lord Muruga, the son of Lord Shiva, in Chennimalai near Erode. Tamil contains many ancient hymns in praise of deities. Kanda Sashti Kavasam was composed in the 19th century. The song has been composed in praise of the Lord, seeking to shower His grace. The song consists of a total of 244 lines, including four introductory lines known as “Kaappu,” followed by a couple of meditational lines and the main song portion consisting of 238 lines known as the “Kavacham.” The grammar employed in the introductory part is the Naerisai venba and that of the meditational part is the Kural venba, widely known to the Western world for its exclusive usage in the Tirukkural. The “Kavacham” part follows the grammar of Nilai Mandila Aasiriyappaa and the song clearly establishes The sufferings great and sorrow will vanish for those who pray,
The riches will increase for those who remember it in their mind,
All penance will surely bear fruit
By this Sashti Kavacham written by the grace of God.
6. I further state that Sashti is the day that Lord Muruga defeated the demon Soorapadman. When the devas could not tolerate the evil doings of this demon, they approached the younger son of Lord Shiva and Parvati for his assistance. He fought Soorapadman for six days, at the end of which the Lord vanquished the asura. He threw his weapon at him and split Soorapadman into two halves. One half became a peacock, which he took as his Vahana. The other became a rooster and was transformed into his banner.The devas rejoiced—they praised the Lord and prayed to him for six days. Devotees usually narrate the Kanda Sashti Kavacham during this period. Whoever fasts and prays to Lord Muruga for the six days of Kanda Sashti is believed to receive Muruga’s blessings. Those who are unable to fast all day can eat once a day or twice a day during this period depending on their health, age and will Devotees believe that regular chanting of this song causes the predicaments of life to be resolved and that chanting the full song 36 times a day brings wealth in this instant case Is all about unaccountable freedom that has been given to the above said social medias and the above said social medias are continuously broadcasting, publishing articles,news and videos which create enimity among the religions, communities and people professing different god and who are following customs.
7. I further submit that abusing and defaming of the religions, communities, leaders, former justices of supreme court and women are increasing day by day in these social media and both YouTube and Twitter, Facebook having their own rules stating that the users of should not violate the rules but with regard to the termination of accounts which are abusing, defaming individuals, groups and religions, communities are not been made by the above said companies and are not taking any steps to stop the violaters or terminate the violaters and the accounts which are not following the twitter rules or YouTube rules as prescribed by them twitter and YouTube states that Twitter and YouTube purpose is to serve the public conversation.Violence, harassment and other Similar types of behaviour discourage people from expressing themselves, and ultimately diminish the value of global public conversation and these company as stated that their rules are to ensure all people can participate in the public conservation freely and safely and it is pertinent to note that regarding the safety of both the company as mentioned that People using YouTube and twitter may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people and specified that the users should not threaten or promote terrorism or violent extremism youtube and also twitter company have expressed that the users may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone or incite other people to do so and about hateful conduct you have mentioned and may not promote violence, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation etc and you have clearly mentioned that the both social media users May not post media that is excessively gory or share violent or adult content within in live video or in profile or header images and media depicting sexual violence and or/ assault is also not permitted but all the rules prevails just like a written words and lakhs and lakh of identified and unidentified users found in all these social medias and from this identified and unidentified users there is a threat to the country in all forms the religious beliefs are very badly criticized for example this KARUPPAR KOOTAM had abused the name of Lord Murugan and uttered very bad words against ‘ Kandha Shasti kavasam’ which had caused tension in the state of Tamilnadu earlier another YouTuber namely Maridhas having His own YouTube channel also frequently posted videos defaming the other minority religions in the country and also having several Twitter Accounts in the name of Maridhas Answers, Maridhas Army etc and Savukku Shankar, Kishore k Samy and many others also spreading violent articles news through this platform with intention to endanger the harmony of the country likewise the politically motivated messages are also spread widely and easily from here the above said social media user are easily abusing verbally or through videos and what are all the forms available in these social media through in whole India the above said companies having base in America are not taking any steps against the violaters or never taken any steps to terminate the violaters and the accounts which are not following the twitter rules or YouTube rules.
8. I further submit that as prescribed by them Twitter and YouTube stated that their purpose is to serve the public conversation. Violence, harassment and other Similar types of behavior discourage people from expressing themselves, and ultimately diminish the value of global public conversation and further stated that their rules and privacy policy rules are to ensure all people can participate in the public conservation freely and safely and it is pertinent to note that regarding the safety of both the company as mentioned that People using YouTube and Twitter may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people and specified that the users should not threaten or promote terrorism or violent extremism YouTube and also Twitter company have expressed that the users may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone or incite other people to do so and about hateful conduct you have mentioned and may not promote violence, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation etc.
9. I further submit that the above said social medias have clearly mentioned that the social media users May not post media that is excessively gory or share violent or adult content within in live video or in profile or header images and media depicting sexual violence and or/ assault is also not permitted likewise your company privacy policy also reflects with certain restrictions and authenticity of twitter stating about the platform manipulation and spam,Civic Integrity, Impersonation and about synthetic and manipulated media but it’s hard to say that all these have been violated by the Twitter users in India and mostly both YouTube and Twitter is used to share synthetic and manipulated things and many of them impersonating individuals, groups and Organizations and misleading others and its pertinent to note that 13.15 millions twitter Users and 265 millions of YouTube users and India stands first in usage of Face-Book are mostly the users in state of India the above said social media users artificially amplify or suppress information and disrupts people experience on Twitter and YouTube with hateful conduct such as promoting violence , harassing other people especially other religions and also harassment on basis of religious affiliation and also about the Covid-19 disease and targeted harassment of people are also seen and mostly the conversations about abusing religious issues are discussed against each other religions which is harmful to the harmony of the country and against the preamble of the Indian constitution.
10. I further submit that all these social media having their rules and policies have not taken any necessary steps to eradicate the identified and unidentified rule violators and the above said companies are not even bothered about it and leaving this as its leads to threat to the internal security and law and order issues all over the country in the name of religion, caste and communities and also against the members of various political parties who stand opposite in their political views so I sent a representation on mail to the Twitter CEO to take this issue seriously and take necessary action against the above said violators and to stop spreading religious and hateful shares and targeted messages which leads to violence And to ensure that the people using Twitter and YouTube are following the Rules and regulation framed by them and I sent a representation to 1st 2nd 3rd 4th respondents through mail to take action taken on the Twitter, and YouTube and rule violators of all the social medias and to eradicate the fake Twitter and YouTube accounts which promotes violent extremism by threatening individual and group of people and glorifying violence in the name of religions, caste, creed etc I sent a representation on 15.07.2020 and to the 1st 2nd 3rd 4th respondent to take action against the above said social medias as well as the social media violators to safe guard India Sovereignty of India but till now no fruitful action was taken based on my earlier representation.
GROUNDS
1]
For the reasons stated above, it is humbly prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue interim direction, directing the respondents 1 and 5th respondents to take appropriate action against the concerned Social medias through Officials and Police officials throughout india, pending disposal of the writ petition and thus render justice.
For the reasons stated above, it is humbly prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue a WRIT OF MANDAMUS, or any other writ, order or direction, directing the respondents 1 and 5 to issue necessary strict instructions to social media rule violators and pass such further or other orders as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case and thus render justice.
Solemnly affirmed at Chennai ||
This the day of July, 2020 || BEFOREME
And signed his name in my presence ||
ADVOCATE : CHENNAI
