India not totalitarian regime like China: Google
Google India, which along with 20 websites is facing criminal case for allegedly hosting objectionable
materials, today told the Delhi High Court that blocking them was not an option as demorcratic India
does have not a "totalitarian" regime like China.
"The issue relates to a constitutional issue of freedom of speech and expression and suppressing it was
not possible as the right to freedom of speech in democratic India separates us from a totalitarian
regime like China," advocate N K Kaul, appearing for Google India, told Justice Suresh Kait.
During last hearing, Justice Kait had warned Google India and social networking site Facebook India
that websites can be "blocked" like in China if they fail to devise a mechanism to check and remove
objectionable material from their web pages.
"We are seeking to prosecute the websites which have done a great service to the world. This problem
has arisen world wide in various forms and it is not that we in India are faced with such problems,"
he said.
However, Vinay Rai, who had filed the complaint against 21 websites, opposed the plea of Google India.
Seeking quashing of the summons issued against the firm by a lower court, he said Google India is
neither a search engine nor a web hosting site and was a distinct legal entity from its US-based
holding company Google Inc, a search engine.
"No criminal liability can be fastened on Google India," he said.
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