In Brief
Google India Private Limited (a subsidiary of Google LLC) was charged with criminal defamation and criminal conspiracy for hosting defamatory articles about Visakha Industries on its Google Groups platform. Google India sought to quash the complaint, arguing it was merely an intermediary not liable for third-party content. The Supreme Court held that whether Google India is the actual intermediary is a factual question for trial, not to be decided in proceedings under Section 482 CrPC. The Court clarified that Section 79 of the IT Act (pre-2008) did not shield intermediaries from criminal liability under the IPC. The matter was remitted for trial, leaving open the question of whether an intermediary's refusal to remove defamatory content upon private notice (without a court order) constitutes 'publication' under Section 499 IPC, subject to protections established in Shreya Singhal.
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