Several petitions have reached the Delhi HC seeking directions to the GAC to decide appeals against the blocking or suspension of social media accounts. (File Photo)The Delhi High Court on Thursday disposed of a plea by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) challenging the suspension of its Instagram account, after the Centre told the court that it would decide the student outfit’s pending appeal before the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) within a month.The appeal was filed before the GAC on August 12 but is yet to be decided.Under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, the GAC shall deal with appeals before it “expeditiously” and “shall make an endeavour to resolve the appeal finally within thirty calendar days from the date of receipt of the appeal.”The Centre, through its counsel, informed Justice Amit Mahajan that the appeal would be disposed of in four weeks. Taking this into consideration, the court disposed of the plea without issuing any further directions.SFI’s Instagram account, created in 2018 as the official social media platform of SFI Delhi, was permanently disabled by Instagram on July 5, citing a violation of the platform’s community guidelines.At the time of the suspension, the account had 13,000 followers. According to SFI, the disabling of the account “consequently deprived (SFI) of an important and established medium through which they communicated their activities, student-centric campaigns, issues and concerns, and engaged with students and the wider public.”Several petitions have reached the Delhi HC seeking directions to the GAC to decide appeals against the blocking or suspension of social media accounts. In most such cases, however, the court has refrained from directing that the appeals be disposed of.Story continues below this adIn May this year, though, the Delhi HC directed the GAC to decide an aggrieved content creator’s appeal “expeditiously,” after it had remained pending for more than two months.Similarly, in an order on July 28, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court directed that a social media user’s appeal be considered and disposed of within four weeks. The user had moved court after his appeal remained pending with the GAC for over a month.Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court Professional Profile Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express. Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare). Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others. She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020. With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles: High-Profile Case Coverage She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots. She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy. Signature Style Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system. X (Twitter): @thanda_ghosh ... Read More