Ganesh Kendale
NEW DELHI: Delhi HC Monday closed contempt proceedings against Wikipedia after the platform globally removed a page relating to court proceedings on a defamation suit filed against it.
A bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela disposed of a contempt plea filed by a news agency that claimed the page was not taken down despite a 36-hour deadline fixed by the court.During the hearing, HC took a grim view of Wikipedia’s stand against disclosure of its users who allegedly made defamatory edits against the news agency on a page.
It pointed out that the allegations made against the news agency were scandalous, and what made matters worse was that the agency had no legal remedy as the users who post on the platform remained anonymous. “Nothing can be worse for a news organisation than being labelled a puppet of an intelligence agency, a stooge of the govt,” the HC remarked, saying if left “unrebutted, the credibility goes.”
Even as Wikipedia’s counsel tried to defend its refusal to disclose information on grounds that they would be targeted once the names are revealed, the court pointed out that the suit filed by the news agency cannot go ahead unless a disclosure is made so that it can serve them notices. It asked the counsel to explore with his client what steps can be taken where the user names are not leaked but can be shared confidentially with the news agency for the suit to carry on.
HC was hearing an appeal filed by Wikipedia against a single judge’s order on the news agency’s defamation suit, which accuses Wikipedia of allowing the defamatory edits referring to the news agency as a “propaganda tool” for the government.
