Court asks Google to remove film ‘Saheb Biwi aur Gangster’ from YouTube

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="512"]YouTube Image source | Google[/caption]

The Delhi High Court has asked Google LLC to remove the Hindi film 'Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster' from YouTube, which according to the film's co-producers has been uploaded illegally on social media platforms. Justice Rajeev Shakadhar in an interim order on Tuesday directed YouTube to remove the film within 48 hours, but his lawyer said that the platform was controlled by the American company Google LLC, which would follow the directive.

The High Court recorded the statement made by the lawyer of YouTube and listed the case for further hearing on July 9. The order came on a suit filed by the film's co-producer Rahul Mishra, claiming that the film's other producer Tigmanshu Dhulia had given him all the rights to the film.

Rahul Mitra, in his plea, said that uploading his film to YouTube has violated his rights. He claimed that he was suffering a huge financial loss as he was not in a position to sell the rights to the film on video streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.

The High Court issued notice to Google LLC on YouTube and asked to file its reply in the case. During the court proceedings conducted through video conferencing, YouTube's lawyer told the court that the platform is only a medium and therefore cannot be held liable for the film being uploaded on its platform.

YouTube stated that the prosecutor should sue the person or organization who illegally uploaded the film. Subsequently, the High Court directed the petitioner to make the film uploader an accused in the case within five days.