Contempt of Court notice to be issued to Wikipedia by Delhi HC
The Court ordered that authorised persons from Wikipedia must attend in person on the 25th Of October when the matter will be next heard.
The Delhi High Court on the 5th of September served a contempt of court notice on Wikipedia after news agency ANI claimed that the platform has not complied with an order seeking disclosure of details of subscribers who made what it alleged were defamatory changes to the news agency’s page on the Wikipedia website.
Condemning such behavior of Wikipedia, Justice Navin Chawla said, “I will impose contempt…It is not a question of Defendant No 1 [Wikipedia] not being an entity in India. We will shut down your business here. We will request the government to block Wikipedia…You have used this argument earlier as well. If you do not like India, kindly do not operate here,” Bar and Bench replicated.
The Legal Implications of Contempt of Court Notice for International Entities
The Court order that an authorised persons from Wikipedia must attend in person on the 25th Of October when the matter will be next heard. ANI which has taken legal actions against Wikipedia, is claiming that the platform allowed defamatory edits on its page which termed the news agency as a ‘propaganda machinery’ of the present government. Before this the High Court had issued summons to Wikipedia, then requiring the Wikipedia platform to reveal details of three of the individuals who made the edits to ANI’s Wikipedia profile.
The much-touted library principle was further brought to the public for derogatory use by Wikipedia without adhering to the court order as today ANI had to file a contempt application in the High Court of Madras.
Wikipedia’s counsel informed the Court that Wikipedia has to make some submissions in respect of the order, passed by the Court and it took its time to appear since it is an international entity. In a previous case, this argument has been dismissed by the Hon’ble Justice Chawla doing justice to the present case and Wikipedia also, while warning Wikipedia that the Court will take contempt of court action against Wikipedia.
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