New Delhi, Aug 10: Google on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that it has withheld in India a “defamatory” YouTube video of social media influencer Dhruv Rathee, which allegedly hurt religious sentiments.
Google, which owns YouTube, made the statement before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma on a petition filed by lawyer Amita Sachdeva.
Sachdeva claimed that on March 21, Rathee published a highly derogatory and communally sensitive video, which garnered millions of views on YouTube and contained “false, misleading, and provocative statements insulting Bhagwan Shri Ram, Bhagwan Shri Krishna and Sita Devi.”
Google’s counsel said action was taken pursuant to an order passed by the Centre’s Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC). The video has been withheld only in India, as the issue of global blocking was pending before a division bench of the high court.
Sachdeva said that on July 15, the GAC directed Google to take down the video within 24 hours, but it only “withheld the video” in India, which was only “partial compliance”.
“Issue regarding global injunction is already pending before the division bench. Whatever they could do, they have already done,” Justice Sharma responded.
The court adjourned hearing in the matter till September 3.
On July 3, the court had asked the GAC to decide on Sachdeva’s plea — seeking removal of the alleged “objectionable” video — within 15 days.
The petitioner subsequently filed an application seeking compliance of the direction.
The petitioner had earlier contended that despite the passage of over two months, the GAC, formed by the Central government under the Information Technology regime, had not decided her appeal against Google’s refusal to immediately remove the offending video.
The plea stated that besides sending a complaint to the Delhi Police’s cyber cell, Sachdeva filed a formal grievance before YouTube’s Resident Grievance Officer under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules seeking immediate removal of the offending video.
However, the grievance officer said they were “unable to identify any violations of their community guidelines,” and an appeal was filed before the GAC on March 27, the plea said.
“… despite the statutory mandate to decide the appeal within 30 days, the GAC has failed to dispose of the same. The offending video continues to remain publicly accessible on YouTube and is causing continuous injury to the religious sentiments of crores of Hindus,” the plea said. (PTI)
