New Delhi: Delhi High Court has said that social media platform X cannot claim exemption from joining the Sahyog portal in cases involving crime or police investigations, emphasising that online intermediaries are required to extend timely cooperation to law enforcement agencies. During a hearing on Friday, the court said the “safe harbour” protections available to intermediaries under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act do not shield platforms from participating in the portal. A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Amit Sharma observed orally, “The existing safe harbour provisions, in the opinion of this court, do not give you protection to that extent that you can refuse and say that in the case of crimes we cannot come on board.” The statement came while hearing a plea by X Corp seeking discharge from proceedings related to delays in furnishing information to Delhi Police. The proceedings stemmed from a habeas corpus case involving a 19-year-old Delhi boy missing since Jan 10, 2024, in which the high court has been monitoring police efforts. X Corp said it had fully cooperated with the investigation and had separately challenged the directive to join the Sahyog portal before the Karnataka High Court, where its appeal is pending. Delhi High Court, however, noted that the current system requires investigating officers to contact each platform individually, which is impractical in urgent situations. “Every investigating officer of every police station in the country can’t go to 30–40 platforms to get information. It is impossible,” the bench remarked, pointing out that several countries use centralised law-enforcement request portals. Sahyog has been designed to automate notices to intermediaries under the IT Act and speed up the removal of unlawful content. Over 60 intermediaries have joined the portal. X’s counsel argued that the present proceedings were limited to the missing person case and that joining the portal was optional as per the govt’s own description. The court, however, indicated that the need for timely information in criminal cases justified centralisation.A single-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court had earlier dismissed X Corp’s challenge to the portal on Sept 24, 2025. Its appeal is pending before a division bench.
