The Supreme Court admitted petitions of auction portal eBay India Pvt Ltd and its chief Avinash Bajaj seeking quashing of the criminal proceedings initiated against them for allegedly permitting the sale of an MMS clip showing two school students in Delhi in a sexual act.

A Bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir admitted both the pleas and tagged them with another similar issue pending before a larger Bench.

The Bench had earlier issued notice to the Delhi Government and had stayed the proceedings against the auction portal and Bajaj under Sections 67 and 85 of the Information Technology Act 2000.

While Section 67 bans publishing obscene information in electronic form, Section 85 allows the prosecution of a person responsible for violation.

Bajaj, the then managing director of baazee.com (now Ebay India Pvt Ltd), was arraigned for allegedly allowing the MMS clip, recorded on a mobile phone camera, to be uploaded on the company's auction site in 2004. Bajaj, a US citizen, had subsequently sold baazee.com to eBay in 2004.

However, the state Government had said that Bajaj was responsible for the illegal display of the clip both in official as well as in his personal capacity.