Indian court threatens to block websites over offensive content

Jan 13, 2012, 8:42 GMT

New Delhi - An Indian court has warned it will block websites like Facbeook and Google if they fail to remove offensive material, news reports said Friday.

The companies had petitioned the High Court to halt proceedings initiated against in a subordinate court.

'Like China, we will block all such websites,' Justice Suresh Kait of the Delhi High Court told lawyers for the two internet firms on Thursday, according to the Hindustan Times daily.

The trial court recently summonsed Facebook, Google and 19 other websites to stand trial for offences including distributing obscene material to minors, saying they hosted images allegedly offensive to Hindus, Muslims and Christians.

The High Court refused to suspend proceedings against the web companies and ordered them to 'develop a mechanism to keep a check and remove offensive and objectionable material from their webpages.'

The firms had told the court that this was not feasible.

'No human interference is possible. Billions of people across the globe post their articles on the website. Yes, they may be defamatory, obscene, but cannot be checked,' lawyer for Google India, Mukul Rohatgi said.

In December, Telecoms Minister Kapil Sibal, angered by doctored photos of Premier Manmohan Singh and other leaders, said the government would introduce guidelines to ensure that the such material did not appear on the internet.

The move provoked allegations of censorship.

India has 100 million internet users and about 28 million users of Facebook.