New Delhi: After serving for five years at Twitter India, Mahima Kaul who is currently Director, Public Policy, India and South Asia at the micro-blogging platform has moved on, the company said on Sunday.

Kaul, who will be at the helm till March-end, quit in January, according to the company, which is currently in the eye of the storm following the brouhaha over some controversial farmer tweets that resulted in the Indian government sending a 'strongly-worded' notice to the company.

Mahima Kaul was one of the early hires by Twitter India and served as their policy head among other roles. She is an alumni of Welham’s High School, Dehradun and previously was engaged in a role with ORF Foundation, a thinktank based out of Delhi. After serving for five years at Twitter India, Mahima Kaul who is currently Director, Public Policy, India and South Asia at the micro-blogging platform has moved on, the company said on Sunday. Microblogging site Twitter 's Public Policy Head for India and South Asia, Mahima Kaul, has resigned from her position on Saturday, according to sources. After joining Twitter in 2015, she stepped. New Delhi: After serving for five years at Twitter India, Mahima Kaul who is currently Director, Public Policy, India and South Asia at the micro-blogging platform has moved on, the company said on Sunday. The latest tweets from @misskaul.

'At the start of this year, Mahima Kaul decided to step down from her role as Twitter Public Policy Director for India and South Asia to take a well-deserved break,' Monique Meche, VP, Public Policy, Twitter, told IANS.

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'After more than five years in the role, we respect her desire to focus on the most important people and relationships in her personal life,' Meche added.

The announcement came as in a clear attempt to polarise India, some international celebrities with hardly any expertise on Indian affairs, extended their support on Twitter to the farmers agitating against the new farm laws.

The government in a strong reaction described them as part of 'vested interest groups' and their support as 'sensationalist social media hashtags and comments' which are 'neither accurate nor responsible'.

In a notice sent to Twitter, the government said that the company, as an intermediary under Section 2[1][w] of the act, is once again directed to block access by the public to the said Twitter handles and also the said hashtag with immediate effect.

'It needs to be mentioned that Section 69A(3) provides for specific penal consequences in case of non-compliance of the directions issued under Section 69A of the Act,' the letter read.

Legal experts reiterated that top Twitter management in India faces penal action that may include seven-year imprisonment and fine if the company does not comply with the Indian government's latest order to remove accounts and tweets which alleged 'farmer genocide' in the country.

'Kaul will continue in her role till the end of March and will support the transition,' Meche said in the statement.

Twitter India Public Policy head Mahima Kaul has quit her position because of personal reasons, Hindustan Times reported on Saturday, quoting a senior executive of the microblogging site. Kaul had stepped down in January.

“At the start of this year, Mahima Kaul decided to step down from her role as Twitter Public Policy Director for India and South Asia to take a well-deserved break,” Twitter Global Policy head Monique Meche was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “It’s a loss for all of us at Twitter, but after more than five years in the role we respect her desire to focus on the most important people and relationships in her personal life.”

Merche added that Kaul will continue her role till the end of the March and help the company with transition. Twitter has put out a listing for the top job on its website.

The confirmation of Kaul’s resignation came amid a controversy in India over a Twitter hashtag related to the farmers’ protest.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had sent a notice to Twitter for restoring about 250 accounts and tweets which used the “ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide” hashtag. The government warned Twitter that it could face action for unilaterally unblocking the accounts which it had directed the microblogging site to withhold.

The Twitter handles of Caravan magazine and Kisan Ekta Morcha were among those withheld. The accounts of farmers’ group Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan were also blocked.

There has been a clampdown on the farmers’ protest in the aftermath of the violence during the Republic Day tractor rally. Protest sites near Delhi have been heavily barricaded, with nails dug into the roads. The government has also cut the protestors’ access to internet. More than 100 people have been arrested in connection with the violence and several are reportedly missing.

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