Delhi court summons BBC, others on defamation complaint

A Delhi court on Wednesday issued summonses to the BBC, Wikimedia and Internet Archive on a criminal complaint filed by a BJP leader seeking to restrain them from publishing a documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots, or any other material defamatory to the RSS and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).

The complainant had said the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question” has defamed organisations like the BJP, RSS and VHP.

The court was told that though the documentary has been banned by the government, a Wikipedia page dedicated to the series provides links to watch it and that the content is still available on Internet Archive.

Wikimedia Foundation funds Wikipedia while Internet Archive is a US-based digital library.