December 21, 2004
EBay Fights India Arrest Over Sale of Sex Video
The arrest of the Indian-born chief of Baazee.com, the unit of eBay that is India's largest Internet auction site, has raised an uproar, prompting calls for clearer laws on whether executives of such sites can be prosecuted because of the material, like pornography, that is offered for sale, reports The New York Times.
"Avnish Bajaj, chief of Baazee, was arrested Friday in a case related to the sale on the Baazee site of a video clip of a teenage couple from an exclusive New Delhi school engaged in a sex act.
Several copies of the clip were sold through Baazee in late November before the sales were stopped, according to the police in New Delhi.
EBay said the video clip was not actually shown on the site - the seller had offered it to buyers by simply describing its content.
In a first-of-its-kind incident in India, the police arrested Mr. Bajaj under the Information Technology Act, which makes publishing or transmitting obscene material in any electronic form punishable by up to five years in jail.
Under Indian law, publishing or distributing pornography is a crime, but an industry offering sexually graphic material thrives here."
Related articles:
-- Delhi schoolboy sparks global porn row
-- Court Grants Bail to EBay's Indian Exec
-- Schoolboy quizzed over sex video
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/picturephoning/archives/2004/12/006469.htm