New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Monday (August 17) ordered restoration of the social media handles of the Gujarat unit of the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP). The party's Instagram and Facebook have been blocked for close to four months on the Meta-owned platforms.

After the Union government represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was unavailable in court due to another matter, on the plea of AAP's counsel senior advocate Shadan Farasat, a bench comprising Justice P. S. Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe passed the order, reports Live Law. Justice Narasimha said, "How many times will we adjourn this matter?"

The matter was earlier passed over – not heard at the time it was listed – because the government counsel sought an adjournment from the court. Another adjournment was subsequently sought for two days.

AAP must remove the "objectionable post" that preceded the blocking of its entire account as per Monday's order, the court said.

The issue with the post that led to the entire account being blocked on both platforms was that the party allegedly used copyrighted material – clips from Gujarati films – in political campaign material without permission.

As per Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the government can block online information in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, national security, friendly relations with foreign states, public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of a cognisable offence relating to these grounds.

AAP's accounts were blocked on April 25, a day before Gujarat's local body elections. Its leaders had then called the ban politically motivated. 

“Our Facebook and Instagram pages had 8 crore reach in 28 days. When people are suffering and the voice of the people is being heard on Aam Aadmi Party’s Facebook and Instagram social media accounts, then such a big response and so many views, the BJP got so scared that they had these accounts suspended,” AAP’s Gujarat president Isudan Gadhvi said on April 25.

The party had said it had 7,19,000 followers on Facebook and 3,20,000 on Instagram at the time these accounts were banned in the state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party swept the local polls in the state, while AAP fared poorly in them, trailing behind the BJP as well as Congress by a wide margin. In 2021, the party had been on an upswing in Gujarat.

The petition filed by AAP in the Supreme Court relates to a larger issue: the power of authorities to direct blocking of information under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act. The relief granted on Monday was under an intervention application within the larger petition.

The petition also seeks the records that became the basis for its accounts to be blocked. It has argued that prior notice, an opportunity to be heard and written reasons are a must before blocking any account, in conformity with Article 19(2) of the constitution, reports Live Law.

AAP's petition also seeks a declaration that the @aapgujarat Instagram account and Facebook page were deleted in an arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional manner. It demands clear "guidelines and procedural safeguards" to govern the blocking or suspension of official social media accounts of registered political parties.

AAP had earlier complained that the Gujarat Police had searched its data management office, a charge the police had denied.

“Some policemen came to our data management office to carry out a search operation-cum-raid. They told our on-duty staff that they are attached with Navrangpura Police Station and also showed their I-cards. One was Hitesh while another was Paras. They checked our diaries, cupboards, drawers, laptops and computers,” Gopal Italia, the party’s Gujarat unit president, had told reporters.

Italia is an MLA in the Gujarat Assembly at present.

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