Despite summons, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma fails to appear at Gurugram court

Gurugram, July 26: Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma failed to appear at the Gurugram court on Thursday after the company's former employee alleged that he was fired for objecting censorship and fake news on company's applications.

On July 20, based on a former employee's complaint, the Gurugram court had ordered Alibaba founder Jack Ma to appear in the court on July 29. However, the case was postponed for Thursday.

The case is filed in Gurugram district court and Civil Judge Sonia Sheokand has issued a summons for Alibaba, Jack Ma and about a dozen others, and has asked them to appear on July 29, as per reports. The judge has also sought written responses from the company, Reuters reported.

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Parmar, who was an employee of the UC Web office in Gurugram until October 2017, is seeking $268,000 in damages, according to court documents.

"We are unwavering in its commitment to the Indian market and the welfare of its local employees, and its policies are in compliance with local laws. We are unable to comment on ongoing litigation," UC India stated in a statement.

''The lawsuit also contains a "sensitive words list" with key words in Hindi and English like "India-China border" and "Sino-India war" that the court filing alleges were used by UC Web to censor content on its platforms in India,'' Reuters reported.

Last month, the Home Ministry had banned 59 Chinese mobile apps including UC News, UC Browser amidst border tensions between the two countries.