[Sexually Explicit Video of District Judge] Delhi HC seeks list of WhatsApp numbers for restraining video circulation
The court was hearing a suit seeking a permanent injunction barring the defendants from publishing/re-publishing/telecasting, in any way, a purported video of March 9, 2022, wherein a District Judge is seen in a compromising position with staff in his chamber, which had been circulating on various social media platforms and web portals since November 29, 2022.
Justice Yashwant Varma of the Delhi High Court on Friday directed the counsel for the plaintiff to submit a list of WhatsApp numbers for restraining the circulation of an offending video of a District Judge on the social media platform. Accordingly, Court listed the matter for further consideration on February 8, 2023.
During the hearing, Advocate Ashish Dixit appearing for the plaintiff informed the court that the High Courts' previous orders of compliance had taken place. Dixit also submitted a list of URLs for Twitter and YouTube to block.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for WhatsApp submitted that he’ll need a list of numbers to restrain them from forwarding the video further.
The court was hearing a suit seeking a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants, their associates, sister companies, agents, and others from publishing/re-publishing/telecasting, in any way, a purported video of March 9, 2022, that has been circulating on various social media platforms and web portals since 29 November 2022.
The single-judge bench on November 30 had ordered the concerned authorities to take all permissible steps to ensure that the further sharing, distribution, forwarding, or posting of the offending video of the District Judge is restrained forthwith.
“The defendants shall take all permissible steps to ensure that the further sharing, distribution, forwarding, or posting of the offending video is restrained forthwith. Defendant No.5 (Union) will also ensure that all further steps as are warranted in terms of the communication of the Registrar General dated 29 November 2022 are taken and a compliance report submitted in these proceedings”, Justice Varma had observed.
The single-judge bench had made the observation, keeping in mind the sexually explicit nature of the video's contents and the imminent, grave, and irreparable harm that is likely to be caused to the plaintiff's privacy rights.
The suit was taken on urgent mentioning and in light of the imminent and irreparable harm that was likely to be caused to the plaintiff.
On examining the content of the complaint, the court had stated that Section 354C of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, as well as Section 67A of the Information and Technology Act, 2000, will be violated if further circulation, sharing, and distribution of the video is permitted. Justice Varma was of the opinion that the content if distributed to parties and users of the defendants' services, appeared to violate the Legally Acceptable Terms of Use as adopted by them.
Additionally, the court had noted that the Full Court itself had taken administrative cognizance of the incident, and in accordance with the Resolution passed on 29 November 2022, the Registrar General of the Court had conveyed to defendant No.5 (Union) the need to take appropriate action for blocking the said video across all ISPs, messaging platforms, and social media platforms.
Case Title: AX v. Google LLC & Ors.