The Bombay High Court in Goa on Monday refused to grant relief to the Hindu group Sanatan Sanstha that wanted an order to restore its Facebook page that was taken down by the company.
A Division Bench of Justices M.S. Sonak and M.S. Jawalkar was hearing an appeal filed by the group accused of killing rationalists Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M.M. Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh. The appeal said by blocking its page, Facebook was being high handed, arbitrary and violating a constitutional right.
It said its Facebook pages were used to spread the essence of their spirituality and allied matters. Facebook’s action prevented it from communicating or propagating its philosophy, and its followers from accessing information that it posted.
The Bench, however, was not convinced. “The dispute regarding blocking or unblocking of the petitioner’s Facebook pages appears to be governed by the contractual relationship between the petitioner and respondents [Facebook] and, normally, purely contractual disputes between private parties cannot be adjudicated in proceedings under Article 226 [power of the high court] of the Constitution of India,” it said.
The court said there was no case made out for grant of any declaratory relief. “Even the advocate for Sanatan Sanstha was unable to point out any provision under the Information Technology Act, based on which the petitioner could insist on maintaining a Facebook page on the platform provided without agreeing to be bound by the contractual terms that may have been proposed.”
The high court said that if there was some breach of contractual relationship involved in the blocking of the Facebook page, they could take appropriate steps before an appropriate forum to secure redress.
Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/bombay-hc-rejects-sanatan-sanstha-plea-to-restore-fb-page/article35290781.ece
