New Delhi, Jan 20: The Delhi High Court today sought response from the city police on a plea of Yahoo India Pvt Ltd challenging the summons issued to it by a magistrate for allegedly hosting objectionable content.
“Notice be issued for February 10,” Justice Suresh Kait said while admitting the petition of Yahoo India for hearing.
The court also allowed Yahoo India's plea that its case be heard separately.
Senior advocate Arvind Nigam, appearing for Yahoo India, said, “It is a case where summons were issued without application of mind by the trial court as there was no material against me(Yahoo India)”.
Nigam said the complaint and the order of the magistrate have dealt with alleged objectionable material retrieved from various websites including Zombie, Orkut, Youtube, Facebook, Blogspot and none of them pertained to Yahoo.
He also referred to the complaint filed by Vinay Rai, a journalist, to buttress his argument that no objectionable material has been downloaded from Yahoo India which forms part of the case in which 20 other websites have also been summoned.
“I am not a social networking site like other accused in the case. I only provide email and chat services. Moreover, no objectionable material has been attributed to me and hence my case is different from others,” Nigam said.
“Then why you have been made an accused?” Justice Kait asked while allowing the plea of Yahoo that its case be heard separately.
The court had yesterday deferred the hearing on the petitions of Google India and Facebook India to January 23.
A lower court had on December 23 issued summons to 21 websites for allegedly committing offences of criminal conspiracy, sale of obscene books and obscene objects to young persons.
The Centre had earlier filed a report before the lower court, saying there was sufficient material to proceed against 21 websites for alleged offences of promoting enmity between classes and causing prejudice to national integration.
Out of the 21 websites, Google India and Facebook India had also moved the high court against the magistrate's order, saying the summons be quashed as they did not commit any offence.
