NEW DELHI: Criminal proceedings will continue against Yahoo India which had moved the Delhi High Court against a lower court order summoning it for allegedly hosting objectionable content.

Refusing to stay the criminal proceedings against the website, Justice Suresh Kait refused to pass any order "at this stage" and fixed the matter for 1 March, saying he will hear the case before the trial court hears it on 13 March.

Appearing for Yahoo India, senior advocate Arvind Nigam claimed that the company‘s name did not figure in the complaint and submitted that the high court should stay the proceedings.

Vinay Rai, the complainant before the lower court, submitted that he had not received a copy of the petition as yet and it would be difficult for him to file the reply.

Earlier on 20 January, the High Court had issued notice to the Delhi Police on a plea by Yahoo India challenging the summons issued to it by the magisterial court for allegedly hosting objectionable content. The court had then allowed Yahoo India‘s plea that its case be heard separately.

Yahoo India had said the complaint and the order of the magistrate dealt with alleged objectionable material retrieved from various websites including Zombie, Orkut, Youtube, Facebook, Blogspot and none of them pertained to Yahoo, which said it was only a provider of email and chat services.

The magisterial court had on 23 December issued summons to 21 websites for allegedly committing offences of criminal conspiracy, sale of obscene books and obscene objects to young persons.

The Centre had earlier filed a report before the lower court saying there was sufficient material to proceed against the 21 websites for alleged offences of promoting enmity between classes and causing prejudice to national integration.

Out of the 21 websites, Google India and Facebook India had also moved the high court against the magistrate‘s order, saying the summons be quashed as they did not commit any offence.