HC dismisses senior officer’s plea against Army’s ban on social media use

PTI, Aug 5, 2020, 11:05 AM IST

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a senior Army officer’s plea challenging the Indian Army’s recent policy banning armed forces personnel from using social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

A bench of justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Asha Menon, while pronouncing the order, said, “Sorry we are dismissing. Thank you.”

The Army officer had sought an interim relief that he be allowed to retain his Facebook (FB) account in a deactivated form till the court decides whether to entertain his petition after going through the Army’s policy under challenge.

According to the new June 6 policy, all Indian Army personnel have been ordered to delete their accounts from Facebook and Instagram and 87 other applications. The petition has sought a direction to the Director-General of Military Intelligence to withdraw its June 6 policy.