meghakedia

[Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) @internetfreedom]

Statement: Legal notice to the Delhi Police and X Corp. over takedown demands against IFF’s account

On 3 November 2026, X Corp. forwarded to us two “Illegal Content Reports” submitted in the name of the Special Commissioner of Police (Crime), @delhipolice. The first, dated 31 October, sought removal of a post we published on 30 October and a post by @SFLCin. The second, dated 2 November, sought removal of 37 posts and the withholding of three accounts in their entirety, @internetfreedom, @SFLCin and @geoblockedindia, on the ground that they defame the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh under Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The posts in question reproduce and comment on a legal notice that was sent to us. They are protected speech under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. We were given no notice before these reports were filed. We learnt of them only because X forwarded copies.

Today, through our counsel Advocate Abhik Chimni and his colleagues, we served a legal notice on the Delhi Police, with a copy to X Corp.

Our position is simple:

1. Defamation is a non-cognizable offence. The police cannot investigate it without a Magistrate’s order, and cognizance can be taken only on a complaint by the person aggrieved.

2. The reports cite no complaint, no FIR, no Magistrate’s order and no court order, even though the box for “enforcement of court order” was ticked. Under Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, an intermediary can be required to take down content only on a court order or a reasoned government notification. A web form with “hate speech”, “defamation”, “safety/security” and “court order” ticked against 40 URLs, with one sentence of reasons, is not that.

3. Whether something is defamatory is for a court to decide after hearing the author. A police officer cannot decide it himself and direct a platform to act on his decision. Demanding that three accounts be withheld in full is grossly disproportionate to any grievance stated.

We have called upon the Delhi Police to withdraw both reports or disclaim within seven days, to furnish us the complaint and authority on which they were made, and to confirm that no further takedown requests will be made on this matter. If they do not, we will approach the Delhi High Court under Article 226. We have also requested X Corp. to take no action on the reports pending their withdrawal or adjudication.

We are grateful to Advocate Abhik Chimni and his team for representing us in this matter. Redacted copies of the notice are attached.

[Vijay Prashad @vijayprashad]

Paris, France, 2026.

[Anas Tanwir (बुकरात वकील) @Vakeel_Sb]

Ye halaat yunhi thodi hai. Education is a market commodity, universities have lost their purpose as spaces of dissent and debate. We're creating dumb robots. Brilliant piece by my dear friend Anumeha.

https://t.co/eGI46Irq9E

[The Leaflet @TheLeaflet_in]

The knowledge ecosystem of public universities in India, which fostered critical and free thought, is being dismantled by onslaught of neoliberal authoritarianism.

https://t.co/FcsDUnHtRS

[Yanis Varoufakis @yanisvaroufakis]

Cockroach Democracy: Unarmed and Dangerous. By
Arundhati Roy https://t.co/3mvTxEVVAV

[Jhuma @courtinglaw]

Always good to remember that the Judges' Trial, formally United States of America v. Josef Altstötter et al., was the third of twelve war crimes trials the US held at Nuremberg after the Second World War. In the dock were 16 German jurists including several officials of the Reich Ministry of Justice and the rest were prosecutors and judges of the Nazi Special Courts and People's Courts.
Among other charges, they were held responsible for implementing and advancing the Nazi "racial purity" programme through eugenic and racial laws.

[Amit Pandey @yuva_journalist]

Content creator KK creates detained from her residence in Dhaula Kuan. 😦

[The Wire @thewire_in]

To Those Fighting for India's Democracy: A Message from Nayantara Sahgal

📽️: Vedant Sharma, Sneha Das

[banojyotsna ... @banojyotsna]

Activist Umar Khalid, who has now spent more than 6 years in prison, won the Front Line Defenders’ 2026 Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk.

The Ireland-based human rights organisation presented the award at a ceremony in Dublin on Thursday to him, in absencia.

[ساحل کاظمی @sahilkazmii]

Activist Umar Khalid wins international human rights defender award. The award is given out by the Ireland-based human rights organisation Front Line Defenders. It was presented at a ceremony in Dublin, which Khalid could not attend.

https://t.co/N9RABC0hHW

[Anjali Bhardwaj @AnjaliB_]

When people took to the streets yesterday to protest against the SIR, women protesters and journalists were groped and sexually harassed by officers of the Delhi police. This is a blatant tactic to scare women and silence their voices. It cannot be allowed in our democracy.
Join us at 3pm today (4th October) for a march from India Gate to Jantar Mantar to-
- Rise up against sexual harassment of women
- Rise up against the anti-women SIR and demand resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar
See you at India Gate.
लड़ेंगे, जीतेंगे! ✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽

[Anjali Bhardwaj @AnjaliB_]

Delhi Police where is @neha_aisa ? Where has she been taken in an unmarked vehicle?

[meghakedia @megha2632]

@qudsiya_Ah @anuarunima1 @nandinisundar @CambPressAssess @jmiu_official @RanaAnwesha Can one join online?

[Arun Kumar @arunk_patel]

Everyone should read today’s Indian Express first headline!

[Prashant Pundir @kafkasbluebug]

thanks to @scroll_in for covering this! please read. Long Live Umar Khalid.

[Free Umar Khalid @FreeUmarKhalid1]

'Sometimes, I spiral into a bad place': Six years in prison can sound like an completely invisible to anyone other than your body, and I might even go on to say that this overwhelming experience is total," says Umar Khalid.

[Vijay Prashad @vijayprashad]

Elaine Mokhtefi (1928-2026), the Algerian revolutionary, has died. A key fighter for justice, who worked with the Black Panthers during their Algiers exile (here she is with Kathleen Cleaver), and who wrote a terrific book about that experience, Algiers, Third World Capital:Freedom Fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers (2020, https://t.co/RXKD3Qlk8p).

[Ambarish Satwik @AmbarishSatwik]

A couple of nights back our friend Indira Basu played one of Tagore’s most enchanting songs for us on the piano. It was beautiful, there were ascents and sudden, lovely troughs where everything seemed to fall away except the bare bones of the tune. Here’s Ami Chini Go Chini Tomare on the piano. Do listen to the end. Indira starts with the song we’ve all known for years, takes it somewhere it hasn’t been, and then brings it home.

[meghakedia @megha2632]

@skar_connect @onkeyta_ Everywhere in the world vandalism has almost the same legal and dictionary meaning.
Don't make assumptions out of thin air.

[meghakedia @megha2632]

@skar_connect @onkeyta_ Vandalism is protest?