Sabu Mathew George v. Union of India
(2018) 3 SCC 229
In the Supreme Court of India
W.P. 341/2008
Before Chief Justice Deepak Mishra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud
Decided on December 13, 2017

Relevancy of the case: Directions for blocking of advertisements related to sex determination on search engines and websites

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 69A)
• The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act (PCPNDT), 1994 (Section 22)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The writ petition was filed for implementation of the PCPNDT Act for blocking sex selection/determination advertisements on websites.
• The petition demanded blocking of sites, websites or advertisements promoting sex selection on the platforms offered by respondents 3, 4, and 5, which were Google, Yahoo and Microsoft.

Prominent arguments by the advocates

• The petitioner’s counsel argued that the respondents cannot violate the PCPNDT Act and that they are obliged to follow the law. Further, despite the order of the court to respondents to implement “auto-block”, advertisements related to sex selection were still shown on their platforms.
• The respondent’s counsel submitted that they can remove “content” only once they are notified by the Nodal Agency. Further, some permutations and combinations might be very difficult for the search engine to remove.

Opinion of the Bench

• The respondents must form their “in-house expert body” and delete anything that violates the spirit of the PCPNDT Act.
• There must be a collective approach between the expert committee and the search engines to solve the problem. It is the obligation of the search engines to find such a solution.

Final Decision

• Writ petition disposed of with certain directions.

This case summary has been prepared by Anushka Ojha, an undergraduate student at Bharati Vidyapeeth New Law College, Pune, during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in May/June 2021.