Delhi HC acquits Microsoft in objectionable content feud

Just days after a trial court in Delhi acquitted Microsoft India from the ongoing objectionable content feud, citing it as an exception to the others accused; the Delhi HC, too is reported to have dropped Microsoft India from the lawsuit - in the process, making it the only company to have got both civil, as well as criminal proceedings against itself quashed at both the trial court and now, the Delhi HC. As reported by The Economic Times, Microsoft India, as stated by Administrative Civil Judge, Parveen Singh, while stating his verdict at the Delhi trial court was an exception to the lawsuit. The others accused in the case - Facebook, Google, YouTube are all social networking sites, unlike Microsoft, which primarily is “engaged in development and sale of softwares and computing solutions,” as per ACJ Parveen Singh’s statement. 

Free!

Those following our reports closely, detailing every turnout in the ongoing objectionable content lawsuit would be able to recollect that only recently, Yahoo! India, too had managed to free itself from the ongoing lawsuit, when the Delhi HC quashed the case against Yahoo! India for the lack of any evidence against it. 

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Acting on a complaint filed by plaintiff, Mufti Aijas Arshad Qasmi against some 21 social networking sites in the country, the court had first sent notices to the representatives of each of these companies. The report further states that, “Justice Suresh Kait set aside the trial court’s order for initiating criminal proceedings against Microsoft India, for lack of any evidence. The HC also gave complainant Vinay Rai right to file a fresh complaint if he later finds any credible piece of evidence against the company.” The objectionable content lawsuit, which has been on since a while now, sees several social networking sites being accessed in the country being questioned over the nature of the content posted on their sites. The list of accused includes sites like Facebook, Google, YouTube, among others. With the acquittal of Microsoft India, the list narrows further down to include the above mentioned social networking websites, and others like - Orkut, Blogspot, Zombie Time, Exboii, Boardreader, IMC India, My Lot, Shyni Blog and Topix.