Karnataka HC threatens Facebook with operations shutdown in India due to lack of cooperation

Karnataka High Court has orally warned Facebook (Meta) that it may order its operations in India to be shut down if it does not cooperate with police investigation over a fake profile.

An Indian national from Mangaluru, Shailesh Kumar, is in prison in Saudi Arabia allegedly over a derogatory Facebook post against the king of that nation and Islam. His wife Kavitha has complained to the local police that it was a fake profile of her husband on which the derogatory message was posted.

Ms Kavitha's complaint to the police stated that Shailesh has been working in Saudi Arabia for the past 25 years. He had put up a post in support of the Indian Government's Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) move. He allegedly received a threat call over this post following which he deleted his account.

Subsequently, some miscreants created a fake account in his name and uploaded a derogatory post against the Saudi king and Islam, she said. Following this post, Shailesh was arrested in Saudi Arabia, tried and sentenced to 15 years in jail.