'Objectionable content' case is 'abuse of the power of law', says Yahoo! India

Yahoo! India's reply to the slew of allegations currently against them at the Delhi High Court brings in an update to the ongoing lawsuit over objectionable content in India, bringing some 21 social networking websites in the country in the line of fire. Yahoo! India stated that the ongoing lawsuit against them was motivated and that it reflected an 'abuse of the power of law', confirms a report in The Economic Times. In its reply to the lower court, when asked to file a compliance report, to strip off any objectionable content; Yahoo! India was quoted by this report, as saying, "The suit is a complete abuse of the process of law."

Lawsuit woes...

Further according to the report, Yahoo! India in its written submissions that it sent to the court of Additional Civil Judge (ACJ), Praveen Singh, was quoted as stating, "The present proceedings are somewhat akin to a public interest litigation (PIL), wherein the plaintiff has sought certain reliefs, which do not directly concern the plaintiff and without there being any actual existing interest in the subject matter." Yahoo! India, right from the beginning has been counting itself as not being the same as the others accused in this case, for the simple reason that unlike the others, they're not a social networking website. Further in its written submissions, Yahoo! India's lawyer was quoted as saying, "it has been made a party in the case on the patently mistaken assumption that it is a social networking website and thus there is no cause of action against it."

In one of our earlier reports about Yahoo! India and the ongoing objectionable content lawsuit, we had carried the quotes of Yahoo! India's lawyer, Arvind Nigam, as saying, "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." Reportedly, on hearing this, Justice Suresh Kait, who's overseeing the proceedings, stated, "Then why you have been made an accused?" The court, however, seems to be in no mood for agreement, and has refused to cancel the summons against Yahoo! India.