We have removed objectionable contents: Google Inc tells court

NEW DELHI: The US-based search engine Google Inc today told a Delhi court that that it has aleady removed alleged objectionable contents from its web posts as it was aware of its responsibility as a service provider.

The search engine, in a written statement filed before Administrative Civil Judge Praveen Singh, denied the allegation that it projected Indian culture in poor light.

The statement said that Google Inc was aware of its responsibilities as a service provider and has a system to ensure that "rights and interests" of all relevant parties were well protected.

The US-based firm said the alleged objectionable contents were removed after its Indian subsidiary Google India brought them to the notice of the service provider.

Every product offered is governed by the policies aimed at striking a proper balance between enabling free speech and expression and maintaining a responsible and safe community, the company told the court.

Seeking dismissal of civil suit, Google Inc said that the case against it was filed in complete disregard of immunity given to a service provider under the Information Technology Act for any third party content linked or hosted by it.

Besides Google Inc, Orkut and You-tube today also filed their written submissions in the court.

Earlier, Facebook, Yahoo India and Microsoft, accused of hosting objectionable contents, had told the court that neither a case was made out against them nor there was any cause of action.

The court had on December 20 last year, in a ex-parte order, issued summons to 22 social networking websites asking them to remove "anti-religious" or "anti-social" contents from their sites.