The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to the Delhi Police, Google, WhatsApp and Apple on a petition filed by three Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) professors seeking preservation of data pertaining to the January 5 violence on the campus.
Justice Brijesh Sethi posted the case for detailed hearing on Tuesday as counsel for social media sites were not present when the case came up for hearing in the morning.
During the brief hearing, the police said they were taking all necessary steps to preserve the CCTV footage and messaging records on WhatsApp in connection with the violence. Advocate Rahul Mehra, Delhi Police Standing Counsel, said the agency had written to the JNU administration for footage of 135 CCTV cameras on the campus from January 3 to January 6.
Mr. Mehra added that the police had not received any response to the request. The police had also written for data regarding two WhatsApp groups that were allegedly used to plan and coordinate the attack.
‘Premeditated and coordinated’
The petition, filed by professors Ameet Parameswaran, Atul Sood, Shukla Vinayak Sawant, claimed that particulars of the January 5 incident “seem to indicate that the entire attack was premeditated and coordinated”. The professors also said that they had been personally injured in the violence.
“Unless the same had been the result of a pre-planned conspiracy, it would not have been possible for a mob in such large numbers, many of whom appear to be outsiders, to enter the JNU campus,” the plea said.
“The existence of a premeditated and well-organised attack is further clear from the fact that these persons were covering their faces wearing marks, without any proper identification, carrying weapons and so on,” it stated.
The plea submitted that several persons appear to have used WhatsApp to create different groups with the purpose of inciting hate and violence against the teachers, staff, and students of JNU.
The petition categorically sought the preservation of data of WhatsApp groups ‘Unity Against Left’ and ‘Friends of RSS’ including messages, pictures and videos as well as phone numbers of members related to the incident.
Senior advocates Rebecca John, Akhil Sibal and Gopal Sankaranarayanan represented the professors. Counsel submitted that they wanted the preservation of the CCTV footages and WhatsApp data on priority.
