The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed search engines Google, Microsoft and Yahoo for carrying advertisements of pre-natal sex-determination services and called on the centre to come up with a memorandum to stop the “abuse”.
“Can these search engines continue to violate the law? Is there nothing that can be done to completely stop them? Google, Microsoft, Yahoo can’t continue doing the illegal activity in the name of being an intermediary,” the apex court observed.
It also directed the government to hold a meeting with the major search engines and petitioners to find a suitable solution.
The counsel for the internet giants have argued that the advertisements are blocked as soon as they pop up. “If we block it with certain keywords then all content would be blocked,” the counsel said.
The Supreme Court will hear the matter again on July 25.
The PIL was filed by Sabu Mathew George, who sought the court’s intervention to get the government to crack down on advertisement of sex-determination kits, tools and clinics on websites.
George has alleged that sex-determination ads and links were freely available on the search engines, defeating the purpose of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, enacted in 1994 to stop female foeticides and check the declining sex ratio in India.
{{/usCountry}}George has alleged that sex-determination ads and links were freely available on the search engines, defeating the purpose of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, enacted in 1994 to stop female foeticides and check the declining sex ratio in India.
{{/usCountry}}With inputs from ANI