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Journalism of Courage
The Delhi High Court on Friday sought a response from the Delhi Police on a petition of Yahoo India Pvt Ltd,challenging the summons issued to it by a magistrate for allegedly hosting objectionable content. The court issued a notice to the police for February 10. The court also allowed Yahoo Indias plea that its case be heard separately from two other petitions by Google India and Facebook India,which are already in the court against the magistrates order.
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, said Nigam.
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 on Thursday 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 central government 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.
