NSP Liability Issue Before Supreme Court Of India

This work is reporting about the most infamous and controversial cyber law case of India involving an e-commerce auction site.

The Supreme Court of India has admitted petitions of auction portal eBay India Pvt Ltd and its chief Avinash Bajaj seeking quashing of the criminal proceedings initiated against them for allegedly permitting the sale of an MMS clip showing two school students in Delhi in a sexual act. A Bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir admitted both the pleas and tagged them with another similar issue pending before a larger Bench. The Bench had earlier issued notice to the Delhi Government and had stayed the proceedings against the auction portal and Bajaj under Sections 67 and 85 of the Information Technology Act 2000. This is an important case in the history of Indian cyber law and under the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act, 2000). A good interpretation of the provisions of IT Act, 2000 would go a long way in strengthening the Indian cyber law. Interestingly, the IT Act, 2000 has been amended in 2008 but the Government of India did not notify the same due to the inherent weaknesses and fallacies of these amendments. In the absence of political will to bring positive changes in Indian cyber law, the Supreme Court can provide some direction to it.