NEW DELHI: Twitter India’s public policy director Mahima Kaul has resigned from her post citing personal reasons, even as the microblogging platform is under fire from the Union government for “violating Indian law” by not taking down tweets related to “farmer genocide.”

Kaul quit Twitter in the first week of January, and will continue with the company until the end of March to help the transition.

"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. 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. Mahima will continue in her role till the end of March and will support the transition," Twitter public policy vice president Monique Meche said in a statement.

Financial Express reported that Kaul’s resignation has no connection to the government’s action towards the company with respect to the ongoing farmers’ protests. The company is yet to announce Kaul’s successor, though it has already listed the vacancy for public policy director – India.

Last week, the ministry of electronics and information technology shot off a strongly-worded missive to Twitter, threatening the company with penal consequences if over 250 accounts and posts that were flagged by the Centre weren’t blocked. These accounts had reportedly been tweeting or retweeting "fake, intimidatory and provocative tweets," according to the government.

Initially, the social network had blocked access to the handles last Monday in response to a legal request from the Centre “to prevent an escalation of violence” in the backdrop of the farmers' agitation. Strangely enough, these withheld accounts included that of Prasar Bharati CEO Sashi Shekhar Vempati. However, Twitter restored them later the same day, stating that they constituted “free speech” and were “newsworthy.” The accounts are still accessible.

Twitter's decision to act in line with the request from the government was roundly criticised by opposition leaders and civil rights activists who said it amounted to throttling free speech. Many on social media linked the decision to restrict access to selected accounts to their support to the farmers' protest.