Proceeding allowed against Baazee.com

The Delhi HC allows proceedings against Avinash Bajaj, managing director of Baazee.com, for allowing an auction of a pornographic video clip on his website.

The Delhi High Court on Thursday allowed proceedings against Avinash Bajaj, managing director of Baazee.com, for allowing an auction of a pornographic video clip involving two students on his website.

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Justice S. Murlidhar allowed the proceeding under sections 67 (publishing of information which is obscene in electronic form) and 85 of the Information Technology Act, which fixes the responsibility of a person for the conduct of business of the company as well as the company.

However, the court quashed the criminal proceedings against him under sections 292 (sale of obscene books) and 294 (obscene acts and songs in public place) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The MMS (multimedia messaging service of mobile telephone) clip, which hit headlines in 2004, is said to have explicit footage of two 17-year-old students of the Delhi Public School (DPS) at RK Puram engaging in sex.

The girl's face is reportedly visible in the clip that circulated among fellow students, passing from one camera phone to another. Some are believed to have uploaded the video clip on websites.

The clip found its way on the popular auction website Baazee.com, which was later acquired by eBay.com.