Facebook says suit aginst it filed with 'ulterior motives'

Popular social networking site Facebook has told a Delhi court that the case against it for hosting allegedly objectionable content has been filed "deliberately with ulterior motives" and it is not responsible for the content on its website.

It alleged the lawsuit has been filed to "harass" it and is a "gross abuse" of law as it has been filed by a person who has approached the court with "unclean hands".

Facebook sought a direction from the court to remove its name as one of the parties in the petition saying "it is not responsible for hosting the content that may appear on facebook.com or any website".

"The plaintiff has filed the present suit with ulterior motives to harass Facebook. The present suit is a gross abuse of the process of law and filed with ulterior motive of publicity and causing harassment to it," the company said in a written statement filed before Additional Civil Judge Praveen Singh.

Earlier, Yahoo India, which is also a party to the case filed by Mufti Aijaz Arshad Quasmi, had termed the suit as "motivated".

Facebook India has also sought striking off of its name from the list of parties saying "it is not responsible for hosting the content that may appear on facebook.com or any website and it does not control or operate the servers that host the website facebook.com, which are located in the United States". It said the plaintiff has deliberately concealed it from the court.