Rediff director moves Bombay HC for quashing criminal compla

A director of "Rediff.com" website has moved the Bombay High Court seeking to quash a criminal complaint, alleging that the website, through the search engine linked to it, disseminates obscene material. Sunil N Phatarphekar, a director of Rediff, filed the petition before the High Court challenging the lower court order which issued action against the website and its directors, despite experts report that it would be impossible for a search engine to censor results of any search. The Court is scheduled to hear the case after two weeks. Abhinav Bhatt, a law student based in Pune, filed a complaint with a Magistrate’s court in June 2000, alleging that Rediff has committed offence under section 292 of IPC (selling and distributing obscene material). His contention was that if a user types words such as "sexual intercourse" in the search window on rediff’s home page, it threw up links of pornographic websites. 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. It further adds that no contemporary technology could stop pornographic sites from showing up in search results.