Delhi High Court asks Centre to decide on removing inflammatory content against Shirdi Sai Baba

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said that it will pass orders asking the Central government to decide on removing derogatory and inflammatory videos and content about spiritual leader Shirdi Sai Baba.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said that a detailed order will be passed in the matter. The Court also said that the timeline to take the decision will also be made clear in the order.

The Court was dealing with a plea filed by Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, the governing body of Saibaba's Samadhi Temple in Shirdi, seeking removal of YouTube videos and other online content that portray Shri Sai Baba in a derogatory and inflammatory manner.

According to the petition, filed through advocate Prachi Dubey, the content portrays Sai Baba as “Chand Miyan”, a “Jihadi”, British spy, murderer, rapist, dacoit and religious converter, among other allegations.

It was stated that YouTube and Google LLC failed to remove the video even after the Trust's complaint. The Trust contended that the videos were not genuine historical discourse or fair criticism but contained unsubstantiated allegations that could provoke religious hostility and communal disharmony.

"The false, inflammatory, offensive and objectionable campaign is neither isolated nor accidental. The offending videos and posts have been repeatedly uploaded, mirrored, republished and disseminated through multiple YouTube channels and anonymous or pseudonymous accounts, thereby creating a continuing and concerted digital campaign having the tendency to generate religious hostility and communal disharmony. Several publishers operate through pseudonymous identities, while new mirror uploads and substantially similar publications continue to appear even after complaints have been lodged," the plea stated.

It argued that complaints were filed before YouTube and Google under the grievance redressal mechanism prescribed by the Information Technology Rules, identifying URLs, timestamps, transcripts and the allegedly objectionable portions. However, the platforms allegedly declined to adjudicate the veracity of the claims and directed the Trust to approach the uploaders or the court.

The Trust subsequently approached the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), but claims that no effective relief was granted.

In its plea before the High Court, the Trust has sought directions to remove the content, frame guidelines for handling material affecting religious sentiments and modify the grievance portal to remove these restrictions.

The plea also challenges the grievance mechanism itself, arguing that its 1,000-character limit for descriptions and restriction of five URLs per submission prevent complainants from placing lengthy and interconnected grievances before the platform.

Senior Advocate Pramod Kumar Dubey along with advocates Saurav Agrawal, Ravi Sharma, Prachi Dubey, Rupraj Banerjee, Satyam Sharma, Harsh Khabar, Aryan Kumar Tiwari, Anusha Sinha, Khushi Arora, Devangana Mishra and Shambhu Prasad Singh appeared for Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust.