Anupam Mittal, the founder of Shaadi.com website has been granted protection from coercive action by the Supreme Court. Mittal is facing criminal proceedings over an alleged matrimonial fraud by committed by a man through the website. Earlier too, the top court had stopped criminal proceedings against him.
The man has been accused of defrauding a woman after connecting with her through the website. The platform has been accused of failing to adequately verify the man's credentials.
Today, Mittal told the court that Shaadi.com just acts as a matchmaking platform and cannot be held responsible for subsequent interactions between users, particularly where communications shifted to private platforms like WhatsApp.
Appearing for Mittal, Senior Advocate Atmaram Nadkarni also pointed out that the company was cooperating with the investigation and questioned the basis for arraying Mittal personally as an accused.
The top court, however, pointed out that the allegation against the platform is of facilitating the fraud.
Taking note of the fact that the High Court had not examined the petition to cancel the case on merit, the Supreme Court set aside the High Court order and agreed to have the matter up for fresh consideration.
The Bench of Justices PK Mishra and NV Anjaria also said it had expressed no opinion on the merits of the case and restored the criminal proceedings to their original file before the High Court. It granted liberty to Mittal to seek interim relief from the High Court and directed that no coercive steps be taken against him for a period of eight weeks.
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