Google India Pvt. Ltd. v. Visaka Industries Limited
(2011) 1 ALD (Cri) 1002
In the High Court of Andhra Pradesh
Crl. P. 7207/2009
Before Justice Samudrala Govindarajulu
Decided on April 19, 2011

Relevancy of the case: Intermediary liability in publication and dissemination of defamatory content

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 79)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Sections 34, 120B, 500, 501)
• The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Section 483)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The complainant is in the business of selling asbestos cement sheets and related products.
• It is alleged that the first applicant is a coordinator at “Ban Asbestos India” and the second applicant is Google India, which hosts and regularly publishes the articles of the first applicant.
• It is alleged that the two published articles titled, “Poisoning the System; Hindustan Times” and “Visaka Asbestos Industries making gains” contained defamatory content towards the complainant.
• These articles were available in the cyber space for a worldwide audience to access.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The petitioner’s counsel argued that under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, intermediaries like Google would not be liable.
• The petitioner’s counsel submits that Google is only a service provider and its actions do not amount to publication in law. Therefore, the question of liability for defamation does not arise.

Opinion of the Bench

• The Court held that the second applicant cannot avail protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 as they failed to expeditiously remove or stop the dissemination of objectionable content even after they came to know of it.
• The Court concluded that a company isn’t exempted from criminal liability and can be punished through other means that do not include corporal punishment.

Final Decision

• Criminal petition dismissed.