Giving some hope to the various websites facing criminal proceedings for allegedly showing objectionable content on their webpages, the Delhi high court on Monday quashed the charges against Microsoft India and set aside the trial court order for initiating criminal proceedings against it.
Justice Suresh Kait, who had provided similar relief to Yahoo India on March 1, on Monday said there was no evidence on record against Microsoft India Pvt Ltd, which told the court that that no defamatory material was posted on its website as it is not a social networking site or a search engine.
The company’s counsel told the court that the website, which is engaged in development and sale of software and computing solutions, was not a platform for people to interact with each other or post or publish their views.
The high court gave liberty to the complainant, Vinay Rai, to file a fresh complaint if any credible piece of evidence was found against the company.
Microsoft India had approached the high court challenging the trial court’s order initiating criminal proceedings against it for allegedly hosting “obscene and derogatory content”. The company, in its petition, said there is no evidence against it and that “no offence whatsoever is disclosed against the company”.
“The complaint is wholly false and malicious and has been lodged with an ulterior motive to cause harassment and to blackmail the company and other officers of the company,” the petition said while seeking quashing of criminal proceedings against it.
Mr Rai had approached the trial court, complaining against 21 websites including Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Yahoo and YouTube.
Among these, 12 websites are of companies based abroad.
Metropolitan magistrate Sudesh Kumar had summoned the companies to face trial for allegedly committing offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code Sections 292 (sale of obscene books and material) and 293 (sale of obscene objects to young persons).