Search engine's director moves HC over obscenity charge
A director of the Web site 'Rediff.com' has moved the Bombay High Court, seeking to quash a criminal complaint which alleges that the Web site, through the search engine linked to it, disseminates obscene material.
The lower court had issued process against Rediff and its directors in this case, despite experts' report that for a search engine, it would be impossible to censor results of any search.
The High Court is scheduled to hear the case after two weeks.
Petitioner Mr Sunil N Phatarphekar is one of the non-executive directors of Rediff.
One Abhinav Bhatt, a law student based in Pune, filed a complaint with the magistrate's court in June 2000, saying that Rediff has committed offence under section 292 of IPC (selling, distributing obscene material).
His contention was that if one was to type words such as ‘sexual intercourse’ in the search window on rediff's home-page, it threw up links of pornographic Web sites.
The judicial magistrate in Pune sought opinion of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd's (VSNL) internet experts in this case.
According to the petitioner, the VSNL's report clearly said that Rediff itself did not host any pornographic material. - PTI
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