'If you don't like India, don't work in India': High Court warns Wikipedia in ANI defamation case
PTC News Desk: Delhi High Court issued a contempt of court summons to Wikipedia, the popular and free online encyclopaedia, on Thursday for withholding information about revisions to an entry on news agency ANI. The court warned Wikipedia against violating Indian regulations, stating, "If you don't like India, please don't work in India... we will ask the government to block your site."
The court was hearing a case filed by ANI alleging defamation against Wikipedia for permitting specific edits to a page containing information about the news agency. The claimed edit described ANI as "the propaganda tool" of the Indian government. The court had ordered Wikipedia to provide information about the three accounts that made the edits, but ANI claimed today that this had not been done.
This came after ANI noted that Wikipedia had not stated that the three individuals named in the case were not editors. In its defence, Wikipedia informed the court that the distribution of the information had been delayed pending the filing of certain documents from their end, which was delayed because Wikipedia is not based in India.
However, Justice Navin Chawla was unimpressed.
According to a report by the legal news website Bar & Bench, the judge stated, "It is not a question of the defendant not being an entity in India. We will close your business transactions here. We'll ask the government to stop Wikipedia. Earlier also you took this position.."
"If you don't like India, please don't work in India," he warned.
The matter has been scheduled for October, and the court has ordered that a representative of the company be present.
- With inputs from agencies
