The activist who filed the petition accuses Google, Microsoft and Yahoo of making a premeditated attempt to aim at Indian users with advertisements that claim to help in the selection of a child's sex

The Supreme Court of India has asked Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to respond to a petition claiming the companies illegally advertise prenatal sex-determination products on their websites.

The petition to stall objectionable and illegal advertisements and information discriminatory to the female child on popular websites was filed by activist Sabu Mathew George, who has been in the forefront of the battle against the killing of female foetuses.

George says the petition against Google, Microsoft and Yahoo seeks to block the advertisements. “The companies make a lot of money by doing highly targeted and selective advertising of sex-selection products,” he says, adding that the Union ministries of health and family welfare, women and child development and communications and information technology have also been made respondents for failing to take any action against the three companies despite the offences being brought to their notice.

Sanjay Parikh, a lawyer concerned with the case in the Supreme Court, said: “The (Supreme) court has issued a notice to Google, Microsoft and Yahoo requesting that they respond to the petition.”

India approved the Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act in 1994, banning the use of technology such as ultrasounds and sonograms for the purpose of sex-selective abortion. The law also bans advertisements for prenatal sex-determination, as well as the practice of preconception sex selection.

George’s petition claims that certain organisations engaged in illegally promoting techniques and products for the selection of an unborn child’s sex use these websites to provide links on their search engines.

A search for ‘sex selection’ on Google India returns no text ads, in contrast to 63 sponsored links for the same keywords at Google.com. Yahoo India likewise returns no sponsored results for those keywords. A Microsoft Live Search conducted through MSN India returns search ads offering information about gender selection.

George terms this “illegal and a penal offence” whilst accusing the websites of making a premeditated attempt to aim at Indian users with advertisements that claim to help in the selection of a child’s sex.

In India, as in some other countries, female children are often valued less than male children, a tradition that prompts some parents to terminate pregnancies that would result in the birth of a female infant.

According to Unicef, India loses 7,000 girls every day through abortion. A 2006 report in the British medical journal The Lancet claims that 10 million female foetuses have been aborted in the past two decades, in India.

Since 1994 more than 400 cases have been filed under the law, resulting in only two convictions -- one a fine of Rs 300 and the other a fine of Rs 4,000.

Google says various factors go into managing ad programme policy, including local legal requirements and user experience. Yahoo and Microsoft were unavailable for comment.

Source: DNA, August 18, 2008
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