Twitter sends India & South Asia Policy head Mahima Kaul to answer Parliamentary Panel's summons

Twitter will answer summons issued to it by Parliamentary Committee on IT by sending its Director, Policy for South Asia, Mahima Kaul, sources have confirmed to Republic TV, in light of controversy over microblogging platform earlier intimating that it would t be able to send appropriate top-leadership representatives as stipulated by Anurag Thakur-led panel.

Kaul, who tweets under handle @misskaul, was appointed Twitter India's public policy head in 2015, and is based out of New Delhi, as per her Twitter profile. 

( above is a photo of Mahima Kaul inside Parliament annexe outside Parliamentary Committee's chambers)

On Saturday, Twitter had issued a statement confirming that it would be unable to send senior officials from its headquarters in US in time to answer summons by Parliamentary committee to answer on allegations of bias on its platform. San Francisco-based company had said that it had "suggested that we work with Lok Sabha Secretariat to find mutually agreeable dates for this meeting so that a senior Twitter official can attend. We have also offered representatives from Twitter India to come and answer questions on Monday. We await feedback from government on both of se matters."

Earlier on Saturday, sources confirmed to Republic TV that Parliamentary Committee on IT received a letter from Twitter's Global head for legal, policy, trust and safety that said that " one who engs publicly for Twitter India makes enforcement decisions with respect to our rules for content or accounts in India", essentially saying that its India staff weren't sufficiently empowered to answer on matters that are being spoken of. Sources also added that relevant officials, including CEO Jack Dorsey, wouldn't be able to attend despite given a ten-day extension, to original summons.

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That Twitter wouldn't answer summons wasn't well received by Anurag Thakur, BJP MP who heads it. Speaking to Republic, Thakur said that declining summons could constitute a breach of parliamentary privilege, and also added that appropriate course of action would be decided on Monday when panel meets.

On Friday, Twitter India issued a statement stating that it is committed to remaining unbiased and that its product:

"re has been a lot of discussion about Twitter and political partisanship in India in recent weeks and we would like to take a moment to set record straight.

Twitter is a service where voices from across spectrum can be seen and heard. We are committed to principles of openness, transparency, and impartiality.

Wher it’s trends, content that appears in your timeline, or how we enforce our policies, we believe in impartiality and do t make decisions on basis of political views or beliefs.

We have a specialized, global team that enforces Twitter Rules. Twitter India employees do t make enforcement decisions. This is by design to ensure fairness and impartiality.

India is world’s largest democracy, and one of our largest and fastest-growing audience markets globally. We have never been more passionate about our mission to serve our Indian customers, and to protect and enhance national conversation during this election season."