HomeNewsDelhi High CourtDelhi High Court quashes case against Yahoo IndiaPrint3/6/2012

New Delhi, Delhi [India]

The Delhi High Court on Friday quashed the summons issued by a lower court against Yahoo India, due to 'lack of credible evidence' against it...

The Delhi High Court on Friday quashed the summons issued by a lower court against Yahoo India, due to 'lack of credible evidence' against it.

"The summons issued against Yahoo India is set aside," Justice Suresh Cait said. He allowed the plea of Yahoo India that the lower court wrongly issued the process against it, without attributing any specific role to it. Yahoo India's acquittal comes just a day after Microsoft India was dropped from a similar civil suit by a lower court for lack of credible evidence.

The criminal lawsuit against 21 such websites is filed by journalist Vinay Rai for hosting 'objectionable' content.

The court, however, said that a private complaint could be revived if credible and actionable pieces of evidence are filed against it. "We have the right to seek remedy in a higher court if we want," SPM Tripathi, advocate for Vinay Rai, told ET. The court did not agree with plaintiff 's plea that sufficient evidence can be filed later at a pre-charge stage. It observed that there was no evidence at the time of issuance of summons. Yahoo India's counsel Arvind Nigam said that there were no documents to support the allegations against the website for violation of law.

"I wish to know what is the case against me," he added. Yahoo India Pvt Ltd, on January 20, had approached the court challenging the summons issued to it by the trial court for allegedly hosting objectionable content. Referring to Rai's complaint, Nigam said no material in the complaint was downloaded from Yahoo India which forms part of the evidence. "I am not a social networking site like the 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 had said on behalf of Yahoo India.

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