Nainital: The Uttarakhand High Court has directed Facebook and other social media platforms to present their side before it in a case involving online threats made to a female advocate.

A division bench of Chief Justice G Narendra and Justice Subhash Upadhyay has also made the senior superintendent of police of Dehradun Special Task Force a party to the case.

Earlier, the court had taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and directed the SSP, Nainital, to ensure the safety of the advocate and her family members.

Lawyer under police protection

The lawyer now has police protection.

The court has also instructed the cybercrime inspector general to remove inflammatory posts from online platforms and to take legal action against those who posted them.

Rape and murder of woman in Haldwani

The man who threatened the advocate has been alleged to be Akhtar Ali, who was convicted a few years ago in Haldwani for the rape and murder of a woman from Pithoragarh.

Ali was awarded a death sentence by a trial court, a verdict upheld by the high court. However, the Supreme Court acquitted him.

The advocate got the threats on social media after Ali came out of jail.