New Delhi: The Delhi High Court declined Tuesday to grant any interim relief to a senior officer, who has challenged the Indian Army’s recent policy. The policy bans Armed Forces personnel from using social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The Delhi High Court said that the officer has to either abide by the mandate of the organisation or put in his papers.
The Delhi High Court said the officer has a choice to make. It asked him to delete his FB account. It said the policy to ban the use of social networking platforms for army personnel was taken keeping in view the security of the nation. The court said he can create a new social media account later.
A bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Asha Menon said that it has not even found a reason yet to entertain the plea. So ‘the question of granting any interim relief’ does not arise. “Especially when the matter has the potential of concerning the safety and security of the country,” the bench said.
Lieutenant Colonel PK Choudhary contended that once deleted all the data, contacts and friends in his FB account would be ‘irretrievably lost’. He said the loss would be ‘irreversible’.
“No. No. Sorry. You please delete it. You can always create a new one. It cannot work like this. You are part of an organisation. You have to abide by its mandate,” the bench said.
It further said, “If you are so dear to FB, then put in your papers. See you have to make a choice; what do you want to do. You have other choices which are also irreversible.”
The army officer had sought an interim relief. He said that he be allowed to retain his Facebook (FB) account in deactivated form. It will remain deactivated till the next date of hearing.
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.