Delhi High Court Closes Doctor's Plea Against Locking Of Facebook Account For Allegedly 'Glorifying Dangerous Organisations'

The Delhi High Court on Monday closed a petition filed by a doctor against locking of his Facebook account on the ground that his profile picture contained symbols, glorification or support of dangerous people and organisations.

Justice Sachin Datta disposed of the petition filed by Dr. Shahin Nooreyezdan seeking to restore his Facebook account and to ensure that no action is taken against him except in accordance with the law and applicable statutory rules and guidelines.

The counsel for the petitioner doctor submitted that the allegations were completely untenable and cannot stand scrutiny of the law.

The counsel for Meta Platforms submitted that on supplying URL of doctor's profile, his request for restoration of the account will be duly considered as per all applicable statutory Rules.

The Court said that in case Meta Platforms declines the request of the doctor, a reasoned order be passed.

Justice Datta granted liberty to the doctor to take appropriate legal remedy in such an event.

The Court clarified that all the rights and remedies of the petitioner will remain open.

The petition has been filed through Advocates Naman Joshi, Amber Tickoo and Aakash Deep Singh.

The plea stated that Facebook notified the petitioner on May 18 that his profile picture had been removed because the 'photo contained symbols, glorification or support of people and organisations that we define as dangerous.'

It added that the doctor re-uploaded his profile picture, the account was then locked stating that account had been locked post detecting some unusual activity.

It was the doctor's case that Facebook's action was wholly arbitrary and malafide, based on vague and unsubstantiated grounds which amount to religious or cultural profiling and discrimination.

It was submitted that the action was in blatant violation of doctor's fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India.

Title: DR. SHAHIN NOOREYEZDAN v. UNION OF INDIA AND ANR. 

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 617