The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to stay a lower court order summoning Yahoo India as an accused on a private complaint that charged it with hosting objectionable contents.
Justice Suresh Kait adjourned the matter to March 1 as complainant Vinay Rai said he was not in a position to respond to the portal's petition that challenged the summon order because he was not given a copy of it.
The matter is listed for hearing on March 13 before the trial court.
Earlier, counsel for the portal submitted that the proceedings against it should be stayed as its name did not figure in the complaint.
The portal has sought the quashing of the summon order, arguing that the Metropolitan Magistrate had not applied his mind while summoning it as there was no material against it for issuing the summons.
The Metropolitan Magistrate had dealt with only those alleged objectionable contents that were retrieved from Orkut, YouTube, Facebook and Blogspot, counsel for the portal submitted.
The complainant's case was not about objectionable content being downloaded from the portal, he said.
On December 23 last, the lower court summoned 21 websites, including Yahoo India, for allegedly committing offences of criminal conspiracy, sale of obscene books and obscene objects to young persons based on Mr. Rai's complaint.
Thereafter, the Centre, on January 13, granted sanction for prosecution of these websites, saying there was sufficient material on record to proceed against them for alleged offences of promoting enmity between classes and causing prejudice to national integration.
