The Centre on Thursday told the Delhi high court that it had directed intermediaries to take down within 24 hours allegedly derogatory and inflammatory content concerning Shirdi Sai Baba, saying it could hurt religious sentiments and spread rapidly if allowed to continue.
A bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma was hearing a petition filed by Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi, seeking removal of the content against the deity.
The Centre’s lawyer submitted that the decision was taken by its Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) on August 13, in compliance with the court’s previous order asking it to take a call on the removal within seven days.
During the hearing, the trust’s lawyer, represented by senior advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey along with advocates Prachi Dubey and Saurav Agrawal, further submitted that though the GAC had taken the decision, some videos, including those on YouTube, and 200 URLs were yet to be taken down, and there had been further links containing the same content on other platforms. The links, the senior lawyer said, were derogatory, inflammatory and communally provocative.
Taking note of Dubey’s submissions, the court further directed the Centre to look into fresh complaints and pass appropriate orders.
{{/usCountry}}Taking note of Dubey’s submissions, the court further directed the Centre to look into fresh complaints and pass appropriate orders.
{{/usCountry}}The matter will be heard next on September 7.
The petition said that the content had the potential to promote religious hostility and disrupt communal harmony. It further alleged that the objectionable videos were uploaded on YouTube around March and that, despite the trust approaching YouTube’s grievance redressal mechanism on July 15, 17 and 19, the platform rejected its complaints, directing it to either approach the uploaders or obtain an order from the High Court.