High Court orders YouTube to remove videos critical about BK

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The Telangana High Court has ordered YouTube to remove videos critical of the Brahma Kumaris following legal action started by the BKWSU against two Hyderabad-based YouTubers, Lalit Kumar and Vanitha Mythili. Justice B Vijaysen Reddy was preciding.

Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana High Court, son of Justice B. Subhashan Reddy (a former Chief Justice of Madras and Kerala High Courts), attended and spoke at a "National Jurists Conference" convened by the Jurist Wing of Brahma Kumaris at the Global Peace Auditorium in Hyderabad India last year, where he said that lawyers should "learn from Brahma Kumaris as to how to combine profession and spiritualism" and success for lawyers lies not in material wealth, but in the service they offer to the needy."

Unless, of course, the needy are the victims or critics of the Brahma Kumaris ...?

The conference was called "Harnessing the Mind: Elevating Legal and Personal Success.

It appears that both the BKs' sucking up to those in positions of power and influence has paid off ... but also that India has fallen prey to the trend of the police being called upon to cope with hurt feelings, and being used silence the freedom of speech.

Are the BKs not just using this "contact soul" as a goon?

Another 'Chilling Effect' legal action on behalf of the BKs.

Brahma Kumaris, in their petition, contended that the two YouTubers were disseminating false information against Brahma Kumaris for the past six months and tarnishing their image in interviews conducted by various YouTube channels. "They are purposefully using insulting and intimidating language with a dishonest and cynical motive to hurt their sentiments and other spiritual practitioners," they alleged. They lodged a complaint with Gachibowli police, and a case was also registered. Further, they also urged the police to get the objectionable videos deleted, they claimed.

The assistant GP for Home informed the court that police asked YouTube to immediately delete the objectionable videos, and YouTube sought certain clarifications. However, Brahma Kumaris claimed that at the time of registering the case, the videos had 100 views, and it has now reached 3 lakh views.

"If immediate action is not taken for deletion of the objectionable videos, the situation would go out of control and it would cause irreparable loss," they urged the court.

Question, does the Telangana High Court actually have any power over Youtube in the USA? Or was it just about frightening, distressing and crushing locals Lalit Kumar and Vanitha Mythili with legal violence?

It looks like some videos are still up ...

ex-l wrote: Question, does the Telangana High Court actually have any power over Youtube in the USA? Or was it just about frightening, distressing and crushing locals Lalit Kumar and Vanitha Mythili with legal violence?

Courts in different jurisdictions can order internet based companies who wish to operate in that jurisdiction to do certain things such as particular posts or web sites to be taken down ( *Compliance is another step)

You may remember when the EU ordered Google to take down search results linking to certain news articles about a man arrested but later found not guilty of a crime, after a lawsuit from him against saying it was defamatory because the Not Guilty verdict was not immediately and equally displayed. He won, the order was made and Google complied.

In this case, it may be that after the court orders, Youtube checks against its own T&Cs then weighs up whether complying with the court order goes against its own T&Cs and/or opens it up to more restrictions becuase of vexatious compaints, to the point where its credibility and revenue is threatened.

The various platforms can choose whether to block only in that jurisdiction or do it globally (done by IP address) . So it may be you can still see the videos in the UK but they're not visible in the state of Telangana or anywhere in India, which will look like this.