New Delhi, Jul 18 (IANS): The Bombay High Court has directed Twitter India to file its reply before July 31 on a plea seeking directions for action against it for "anti-national activities".

The order was passed by a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Anuja

Prabhudesai, and the matter will be next heard on August 11.

A PIL was filed against Twitter India Pvt. Ltd. and others by Gopal Jhaveri

on May 31, seeking directions to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take action against Twitter in various penal provisions of law, including Section 39 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Sections 107, 121A, 124A, 153A, 153B, 34 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 66 F of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The petitioner also demanded regulation of social media platforms to tackle various anti-national and unethical activities on Twitter.

The petition says that Twitter has accepted payments from banned terrorist organisations to promote an anti-national agenda, which shows is links with terror organisations.

This PIL was listed for hearing for the first time on June 5. Twitter India marked its appearance through a lawyer and sought time for the reply. The court directed it to file a reply within three weeks. However, Twitter failed to file the reply as per the order dated June 5 and now the court has further directed it to file a reply on or before July 31.