From the DNA:
The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay high court, comprising Justice AP Deshpande and Justice RM Borde, issued notice to Google last week following a public interest litigation initiated by 22-year-old advocate Yugant R Marlapalle.
In his petition, Marlapalle, who is also an Orkut member, took exception to a community called ‘We hate India’, owned by someone who identifies himself as Miroslav Stankovic. The community features a picture of the Tricolour being burnt.
“My prayer is to direct Google to remove communities that spread hatred against India, the national flag, and all deities in the country,†Marlapalle told DNA. “My objection is to the offending communities, not Orkut.†(my italics)
He has cited the provisions of section 75 of the Information Technology Act, which empowers authorities to file charges for offences or contravention committed outside India by any person irrespective of nationality.
wtf. No one forces anyone to join Orkut or indeed any of the groups on it. So why get offended. And if our friendly neigbourhood advocate is so keen on getting rid of this stuff ….. let him pay for it himself. Why ask the tax payer to bear the burden!. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but i am already paying too much tax. And while i don’t murmur too much about roads or employment guarantee schemes or education or defence or support of the arts — some of the stuff my money pays for — i really have an issue with this sort of nuisance level goverment intervention.
I personally get offended by people/communities/special interest groups who try and abrogate Fundamental Rights as guaranteed by the constitution. To whom do we appeal to remove offending ‘people’ and where to?
Observatiions:
1) That there’s someone who actually got offended just cause someone put up a ‘we hate india’ community thingie.. hehhe.. now now.. thats being veeeery veeeery sensitive…
2) and that he actaully files a case in the court ( the publicity must have been tempting… and then am sure the judges welcomed the change/break/whatver)
3) and once again … why am i supposed to pay for this?
Let me introduce myself. I’m ADV.YUGANT R MARLAPALLE, the petitioner in this PIL. I’ve gone thru all the comments made above. But, let me tell u all NEITHER ORKUT IS GOING TO BE CLOSED DOWN NOR IS IT MY PRAYER. No order is being passed by the High Court of such kind against google. There is no Orkut v/s Govt. conflict. Its a complete misinterpretation by the media. My prayer against google is for passing an order against them for the deletion of such kind of communities which insult our National Flag and deities. I made every attempt to contact the google. But, they didnt find it suitable to even send a reply to my notice, so reluctant they are. After waiting for a month, as a last resort, I had to file a PIL.
Now, why google to be held responsible? Authorities of google were well aware of this fact that the Orkut is being used as a forum for the hate India campaign (DNA 11th Oct)but they didnt take any action. Their community standards in fact say that all those communities will be deleted which are against National Origin. It is expected from them to follow their own terms and conditions and community standards. But, inaction on their part compelled me to file PIL.
I read above that there is nothing to be taken seriously as their are crores of such sites.Their might be crores of such sites. but i’m a witness to this cause and i’m supposed to step into the witness box against an offence to which i’m a witness. Thousands of offences occur in a day. so are we supposed to say that thousands of offences occur, so there is nothing to be taken seriously? In my opinion, this is a selfish thinking coz such kind of people tend to ignore it unless & until this problem knocks their door.
Somebody above has said that there are lot of OTHER problems which are to be solved and which violate their fundamental RIGHTS instead of attending to this problem. I’d like to tell here that the respective authors are well aware of their RIGHTS that too fundamental one and what abt the FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES which are expected from them? To respect our National Flag is a fundamental duty (Art.51A) of every INDIAN citizen. And if somebody is insulting it, its an Insult To Our National Honour. Had this happened in America, till now Google could itself have taken action against the offender, and the very people of our Country could have appreciated the awareness amongst the US people which is a part of our nature now.
Our National Honour (Flag) is not a football to be kicked by any tom dick and harry, and I’m not a person sitting in a stadium appreciating the goal and cheering and applauding loudly. I don’t know of the others. Some gentlemen have commented that it doesn’t affect their normal life. It is obvious bcoz it mite not disturb their NORMAL life unless terrorism washes away their NORMAL life. Is government mad to spend Rs.38000 crores on security of the citizens?
I’m 22, but feeling very sorry for my this generation rather so called GENERATION NEXT and the level of thinking they have. We are happy only in our 9 to 5 (pm to am) schedule. Every person has a FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT to express their opinion but not by encroaching upon or violating others’rights or putting others’ dignity at stake.
And lastly, plz don’t allow anybody to make any contemptous comments against court as matter is sub-judice.
Regards,
Yugant R Marlapalle
Dear Yugant,
I appreciate the cause you have stood for. And at the same time condemn all those people who in the name of FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION are allowing (read encouraging) such kind of activities. You are very right in saying that if such thing woud have happened in US and people there would have raised there voice – these same people would have praised the US guys.
GOOGLE / ORKUT even now does not reply to any of the legal notices. Even their website does not gives any contact address or any way where notices can be sent.
Rishi Chawla
New Delhi
Yugant R Marlapalle, instead of wasting taxpayer’s money and wasting your own time I suggest you invest your efforts in furthering your career and becoming more mature in your thinking so that at some future point you can contribute positively to our great country. You are a 22 year old kid and have a lot to learn, broadening your views and seeing things in the right perspective. If you are indeed an advocate then get the experience, become a good lawyer/judge and contribute to society. Shutting down a few bytes of digital text is pointless and a publicity stunt on your part – sadly the image we Indians have of you is that of a loser…
From an Indian.
dsanjit@yahoo.com