The arrest of eBay subsidiary Baazee.com CEO Avnish Bajaj by Delhi, India police is being widely critisized in India and around the world.
Here is a variety of quotes culled from news sources:
Indian Industry Organizations Protesting Arrest
“Key Indian industry organizations protested Bajaj’s arrest. Bajaj’s full cooperation with investigators and the availability of the evidence make his arrest unexpected and uncalled for in a mature democracy, said the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) in Delhi.
“We urge the authorities concerned to immediately release Mr. Bajaj, even as the legal case proceeds,” said Kiran Karnik, NASSCOM’s president.”
Are ISP and Telephone CEO’s Next To Be Jailed?
“”The closest analogy to this case is that of a telephone service provider being held liable for an obscene telephone call made” on its network, said a legal expert on condition of anonymity.
Duggal believes that requiring service providers to prove that they are not liable is likely to burden Indian outsourcing companies, which handle third-party data and information.
“Any kind of outsourcing is on a network, so they are all network service providers,” said Duggal. “If they are going to be liable for all third-party data and information made available by them, it is going to make it difficult for them to do business.””
Bajaj Was Cooperating When He Was Unexpectedly Jailed
“EBay said it was “outraged” by the arrest, which it said happened after Bajaj voluntarily traveled to New Delhi to cooperate with police. “The video clip itself was not shown on the site; the seller offered to e-mail the clip to the buyer directly,” the company said in a statement. “The listing violated Baazee.com’s policies and user agreement and was removed from the site once it was discovered.”
The video’s seller was arrested a week ago, but India’s Information Technology Act is ambiguous about who should be held responsible for the electronic publishing of obscene material.”
Arrest of U.S. Citizen CEO Hurting Indo-US Relations
“The school sex-clip scandal appears to have found its way into Indo-US relations.
National security adviser and secretary of state-designate Condoleezza Rice has urged Delhi to look into the safety of Avnish Bajaj, the arrested CEO of Baazee that runs the online auction site on which video discs of the escapade were sold.
The India-born US citizen was today sent to judicial custody for seven days by a Delhi court, but not before a flip-flop by the prosecution on seeking remand or “conceding” to grant of bail.
Rice conveyed her concern through David Mulford, the US ambassador in Delhi. Highly-placed sources in the government said South Block has taken note of her request but informed her through the ambassador that the case is “sub judice” and the law of the land must be respected.
Late this evening, the US embassy in a statement said it was following the developments “very closely and there is high level of interest in Washington regarding the case”. It added that “consistent with normal US consular practices, the hearing today was attended by a US consular officer”.”
Boy Filmed Himself Engaging In Oral Sex via Phone
“The high school boy, who police said had filmed himself while engaging in oral sex and then transmitted the images shot by his camera mobile phone, was arrested in New Delhi late on Sunday.
“His arrest is key in this case of pornographic images being transmitted to many places. He is the one who started the process of such images being transmitted,” Kamal Kant Vyas, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, told Reuters on Monday.
The boy is expected to be charged under sections of the information technology act, passed in 2000, that deal with pornographic materials and their electronic transmission.
The images were copied on video and put on Baazee.com for sale. Many people received the images on their camera-enabled mobile phones.
But Baazee.com said it was “outraged” by the arrest of its country manager, Avnish Bajaj, because the company had taken off the video as soon it became aware of it, and the case against it was baseless.”
In Jail No. 3 Without Even a Bed
“Even in his wildest dreams, Avnish Bajaj, CEO of US-based auction portal eBay’s Indian subsidiary, Baazee.com , would have never imagined that he’d be spending his days in India’s most infamous jail.
Bajaj, arrested for letting an IIT-ian host the MMS sex clip involving two Delhi Public School students on baazee.com , is lodged inside Jail No 3 inside Delhi’s Tihar Prisons with not one or two, but “about 70” other undertrials accused of crimes ranging from pick-pocketing and rape to murder.
The Harvard student, arrested on Friday, is in Jail No 3 without even a bed for himself. “Just like any other inmate, Bajaj sleeps on a bed-sheet on the ground. No one gets a bed here,” Tihar Jail’s Director General of Prisons, R P Singh, tells Indiatimes News Network .
Bajaj has been given “no extra facilities”, Singh confirms, “He is being treated just like any other undertrial at Tihar.”
In judicial custody till December 24, Bajaj is in Jail No 3 because that’s the allotted jail for prisoners whose names start with alphabets A, B, C, D, E, G, H, I, L, V or W.
He gets just about enough space in his cell to curl up and sleep, if at all he manages to get some.”
Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
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