New Delhi, Feb. 6: A Delhi court today directed Google, Facebook, Yahoo and 19 other Internet companies to file statements within 15 days explaining what they had done to remove objectionable content.
"The defendants must file a written statement within 15 days," said civil judge Praveen Singh court before listing the matter for March 1.
The companies face a civil suit, filed by one Mufti Aijaz Arshad Quasmi, in which they have been accused of hosting objectionable materials that may cause communal unrest.
During today's hearing, Facebook India, Microsoft and Yahoo told the court they had nothing objectionable on their sites. Google India claimed it had removed certain web pages to which the petitioner had objected.
The judge came down heavily on Google Inc, the parent company based in US. "Why are you (Google Inc) not coming properly with your reply?" he asked, after the company claimed it had received the copy of a previous related judgment and other documents only a few days ago.
That judgment, passed in December, had asked the sites to remove "anti-religious" or "anti-social" content in the form of photographs, videos or text which might promote hatred or communal disharmony and hurt religious sentiments. It had set February 6 as the deadline.
Santosh Pandey, the counsel for petitioner Quasmi, said the judge was also upset with Facebook's response.
"The judge was not happy with an affidavit filed by Facebook saying there was nothing objectionable on its site. Google India's argument that it had removed some of the objectionable content also did not find favour as the judge wanted it to submit a written statement."
A separate criminal case with similar allegations is due to be heard next month in another Delhi court which had issued summons on the 20-odd Web companies on charges of criminal conspiracy and obscenity. The petitioner in that case is Vinay Rai, a journalist with a Hindi weekly.
Google is among the companies whose executives have been summoned to appear in person in the lower court on March 13.
The companies may face legal action as the Centre last month sanctioned their prosecution for allegedly promoting enmity between classes and causing prejudice to national integration and outraging religious beliefs.
The Indian subsidiaries of Google and Facebook sought to have the order quashed and moved Delhi High Court for a stay but were turned down.
"Like China, we (India) will block all such websites," the high court warned the sites if they failed to screen and remove objectionable material.
Google had argued that blocking the websites could not be an option as it amounted to violating the freedom of speech and expression in a democratic country such as India.
The matter will come up for further hearing on February 14.
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