New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday (February 25) refused to grant early hearing on a plea seeking a direction to block access to DeepSeek – an AI chatbot developed by Chinese entities – in all forms in India.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, while refusing to grant early hearing of the plea, said that there was no urgency to hear the plea on priority basis and the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) did not deserve a priority hearing.
Don’t use platform if it was so harmful, High Court asked petitioner
After the counsel representing the petitioner said that it was a sensitive matter, the bench asked him not to use the platform if it was so harmful.
“These kinds of platforms have been available in India for a long time. Not only DeepSeek but there are several such platforms available. Don’t use it if it’s so harmful. There is no ground for early hearing,” the bench said and added, “No case for an early hearing is made out. The application is rejected.”
Many things are available on Internet, but a person was not required to use everything: High Court
The bench further said that there were many things available on the Internet for the entire world to access, but a person was not required to use everything.
The counsel representing the petitioner said that the matter couldn’t be heard due to paucity of time on the last occasion and sought the hearing on the plea be brought from April 16 to a prior date.
High Court earlier granted time to Centre’s counsel to seek instructions
The High Court earlier, while hearing the matter, granted time to the counsel representing the Centre to get instructions in the matter after the counsel submitted that the issue requires consideration.
Petitioner Bhavna Sharma, a lawyer, has said that the plea sought to protect the personal data of citizens, the data in government systems and devices from cyber attacks and data breaches, and uphold the confidentiality of government data and documents.
