
The Gujarat High Court has initiated legal action against Google and both the Central and state governments following a case where the tech giant blocked an individual’s email account for almost a year, citing ‘explicit child abuse.’ The issue arose when Neel Shukla, a computer engineer, uploaded a nude childhood photo to Google Drive, depicting his grandmother bathing him at the age of two.
Justice Vaibhavi D Nanavati’s court issued notices to Google and the concerned authorities on March 15, with responses expected by March 26. Shukla’s email account was initially blocked by Google in April 2023, citing a violation of their policy on content featuring ‘explicit child abuse,’ as confirmed by his legal representative, Dipen Desai, during court proceedings.
Shukla resorted to legal action after Google’s internal grievance redressal mechanism failed to resolve the issue, filing a petition in the high court on March 12. Desai highlighted to the court that since the email account was blocked, Shukla suffered financial losses due to inability to access crucial emails vital for his business operations.
In his plea to the court, Shukla emphasized the severity of the situation, stating, “Google says this amounts to ‘explicit child abuse,’ and they have blocked everything. I have not been able to access my email and my business (is affected) as everything is blocked.” Despite seeking assistance from Gujarat police and the Central government’s Department of Science and Technology, responsible for such matters, Shukla received no satisfactory resolution, prompting him to seek judicial intervention.
Furthermore, Shukla urgently requested a hearing as Google notified him that the data associated with his account would be deleted in April, marking one year since its suspension.