Aishwarya Rathore-
Published On – September 9, 2021, at 16:12 IST
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday dismissed a Public Interest Petition (PIL) attempting to initiate legal action against Search Engine Giant, Google India Private Limited for labelling Kannada as India’s “ugliest language”.
Earlier, Google India publicly apologized for the misinformation displayed on its website and assured the Court that such instances would not occur in the future.
The petitioner, the Anti-Corruption Council of India Trust requested the Central and State Governments to take legal action against Google India Private Limited under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.
It further demanded that the Company must also pay a compensation of Rs. 10 crore for defaming and degrading the dignity of the “Historic Kannada Language” and that the compensation be deposited with the Department of Culture and Heritage, Government of Karnataka.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum observed, “Google India had apologised for the misunderstanding and hurting the sentiments of people on its Twitter handle on June 3 this year.”
The issue initially occurred on June 3 when several Kannadigas noticed that Google results for the question “which is the ugliest language in India” featured Kannada as the result.
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