The Wikimedia Foundation, operating the service, has been directed to comply with the order within 36 hours.
The Delhi High Court Wednesday ordered Wikipedia to remove a webpage hosting the ongoing proceeding of a defamation suit filed by news agency Asian News International against the platform, Live Law reported.
A division bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela observed that the comments made against the court’s single-judge bench on that page were prima facie contemptuous.
The Hindu stated that the court directed the Wikimedia Foundation, the United States-based non-profit that owns Wikipedia, to comply with its order within 36 hours.
If something evil is written about this bench or this discussion, what will you do? According to the Bar and Bench, the court asked about the platform.
Wikipedia is a free online collaborative encyclopedia edited by volunteers.
On Monday, the bench criticized the platform for allowing a page titled Asian News International vs Wikimedia Foundation to be published.
The court ordered Wikipedia to remove the page, noting that “the single judge cannot be put in fear or threatened.”
“Look at the page,” the bench had said. “You are disclosing something about a sub-judice matter.”
Advocates for ANI told the court on Wednesday that, following the last hearing, the division bench’s observations had been “opened up for discussion on the page,” according to a Live Law report.
