FB, Yahoo question prosecution move

Leading social networking sites Facebook, Yahoo India and Microsoft on Monday questioned before a Delhi court the move to prosecute them for hosting objectionable contents on their websites.

There is no cause of action, lawyers representing the websites told Additional Civil Judge Praveen Singh challenging the summons for March 13.

'We have removed certain URLs or webpages from the Internet', its lawyer said. The court had on December 24, 2011 sought explanation from Facebook, Google and 20 other social network websites on 'objectionable contents in the form of photographs, videos or texts which might hurt religious sentiments'.

While Facebook and Google India filed their compliance reports. Yahoo and Microsoft filed applications for deletion of their names from the civil complaint stating that there was no allegation against them of webcasting any objectionable contents.

The court directed all 22 sites to file written statements within 15 days Yahoo and Microsoft India Pvt Ltd sought rejection of the petition saying there is 'not even a whisper of allegation against it in the entire plaint' and no cause for action is disclosed against it.

On a day when the websites battled it out in the court, MoS for communication and IT Sachin Pilot made the central government's stand clear. 'Whether it's social media websites or any company for that matter, they all have to operate within the laws of the country. And what we have said is there must be responsible behaviour on both sides.'