Delhi HC Orders Wikipedia To Take Down Comments Over Court's Oder In News Agency Case Within 36 Hours

The court objected to not disclosing the person's name who edited Wikipedia's description, describing the news agency as a propaganda tool of the government.

New Delhi:A division bench of the Delhi High Court has ordered Wikipedia to remove within 36 hours the page containing comments made on the court's decision in the ongoing case related to the description of a news agency as a propaganda tool of the government.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Manmohan pronounced the order on Wednesday. During the hearing, Siddhant Kumar, the lawyer appearing on behalf of the news agency, informed the court that whatever the High Court had said in the last hearing was open for editing on the Wikipedia website. Thereafter, the court cited that this was contempt of court.

Lawyer Amit Sibal, appearing on behalf of Wikipedia, said that the platform has not started any discussion on the court's decision. "If the court orders that the page be removed, then it will be followed," he said. After this, the court ordered to remove the comments made on the orders of the single judge and the division bench within 36 hours.

On October 14, the court objected to not disclosing the name of the person who edited the description of Wikipedia, which described the news agency as a propaganda tool of the government.

During the hearing, Wikipedia said, "It cannot disclose the details of the person who edited the description, which is part of its privacy policy."

Then the court asked that if they could not disclose the name, then how would the court know the stand of the person who edited the description?

The court said that being a service provider, Wikipedia should disclose the person who edited the description of the news agency. The court told Wikipedia that it cannot be a platform to defame anyone and get protection from this.

Then the lawyer of Wikipedia sought time to take instructions on this and inform, after which the court posted the next hearing for October 16.

On September 5, the single bench issued a notice of contempt of court against Wikipedia. Justice Naveen Chawla's single bench said, "If the court's orders are not followed in the future, we will deal with it strictly." The single-judge bench fixed the next hearing date on October 25, ordering the representative of Wikipedia to appear before it.