Web content: Plea to make government co-plaintiff rejected

New Delhi, May 4 (IANS) A Delhi court, hearing a civil case against various social networking sites for allegedly displaying objectionable content, Friday rejected the petitioner's request that the government should be made a co-plaintiff. The court also imposed a cost of Rs.10,000 on him.

Administrative Civil Judge Parveen Singh dismissed the application of petitioner Mufti Aijaz Arshad Qasmi which said that the government should be made a plaintiff as the case was related to national issues.

The court also refused to review its order of dropping the names of Orkut India, Youtube India and Blogspot India from the case.

Qasmi, an Islamic researcher linked to a website run by the Islamic Peace Foundation of India, has sought the removal of allegedly objectionable content from various websites.

Qasmi, in a newly revised list submitted April 12, sought action against Facebook India, Facebook Inc, Google Inc, Orkut, Youtube Inc and Blogspot.

The court would next hear the matter May 14.