Chinese App Ban: Now, Congress Leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi Refuses To Appear For TikTok Case

After former Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi refused to appear for the Tik Tok case in the court, senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi also denied taking up the case.

Senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: It seems that top-notch lawyers in the country are standing in support of the government ban of Chinese apps in India with the Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi joining the list of lawyers who refused to take up TikTok case. After former Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi refused to appear for the Tik Tok case in the court, senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi also denied taking up the case, as per the ANI report. "I will not be appearing for TikTok. I had appeared for them in a case one year ago and won in Supreme Court. I do not intend to appear in this one," Singhvi said.

In a span of two days after the government banned 59 Chinese apps citing national security concerns, Mukul Rohatgi on Wednesday informed about his unwillingness to represent TikTok or any Chinese app in court against the government. Meanwhile, senior advocate Aman Singh also took to Twitter and said, "I was also requested through a junior lawyer to appear for TikTok which I have FLATLY REFUSED."

TikTok, one of the 59 apps banned is owned by ByteDance, had on Tuesday said that it complies with all data privacy and security requirements under the Indian law and has not shared any information of its users in India with any foreign government, including China. Almost 59 Chinese apps, including Tik Tok and UC Browser were banned by the government saying that they are "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity and defence" of the country. The government’s decision has come amid the ongoing border dispute with China in Eastern Ladakh. TikTok has created a rage among social media users by making the app available in 14 Indian languages. Nikhil Gandhi, Head of TikTok said hundreds of millions of users, artists, story-tellers, educators, and performers depending on it for their livelihood, many of whom are first-time internet users. Of all the social media apps, TikTok has more than 200 million users in India.  The app has surpassed two billion downloads in April and gained a huge market in India, as per data analytics firm Sensor Tower data. Around 30 per cent of downloads came from India.