The High Court of Karnataka has issued a verbal warning to Facebook (Meta), stating that it could potentially enforce the shutdown of its operations in India if the company fails to cooperate with a police investigation involving a false profile.
An individual named Shailesh Kumar, hailing from Mangaluru, India, is currently imprisoned in Saudi Arabia due to an alleged offensive Facebook post against the King and Islam. Shailesh’s wife, Kavitha, has lodged a complaint with the local police, asserting that her husband’s involvement is based on a fabricated profile used to publish the derogatory message.
Despite Kavitha’s efforts, the police have been unable to conclude the investigation into the false profile, prompting her to seek recourse from the high court. The case, initially filed in 2021, was heard by Justice Krishna S Dixit on Wednesday.
Previously, on June 12, the High Court had issued an order stating, “The Commissioner of Police, Mangalore (Mangaluru), is instructed to thoroughly examine the case documents and appear before the court to explain the significant delay in completing the investigation when a citizen of this country is suffering in a foreign jail after being tried and convicted, while maintaining that his Facebook account had been hacked.”
