The Bombay High Court on Thursday rejected a criminal case and summons issued by a magistrate court to Amazon India’s CEO Amit Agarwal, following a charge of cheating made by a city-based lawyer.
A magistrate court in Ulhasnagar, Thane district, had issued a process or summons against Amazon India through its India chief Amit Agarwal in August this year, which was dismissed by Justice S K Shinde.
The magistrate court issued the process after a complaint was made by lawyer Amritpal Singh Khalsa, who ordered a hard drive from Amazon’s official website in December 2019 but never received it.
In response, Khalsa filed an official complaint with the local police station, which prompted the magistrate’s court to issue the process, akin to a notice, to initiate the proceedings. Despite many contacts to Amazon India’s customer service, the lawyer stated that he had not gotten the product or a refund.
Senior counsel Shirish Gupte, who represented Amazon India in the high court, contended that the firm just provided a neutral platform for sellers and purchasers and it was not a vendor of Khalsa’s hard drive. Gupte said that the lawsuit was not about cheating, but about a commercial conflict.
Khalsa, on the other hand, claimed that Amazon India had colluded with the seller to deceive him because he had not gotten the reimbursement or the things he had ordered. As a result, he said, it was a valid case of cheating as defined by the Indian Penal Code.
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The court did agree, however, that Amazon was not a seller in this case. ‘Admittedly, herein the transaction is not between two natural persons. Petitioner operates an e-commerce entity to provide information on a digital network and acts as a facilitator between buyer and seller. Petitioner does not own the product and sell the goods to the customer directly,’ it observed.
The court went on to say that the claims did not amount to a cheating offence and did not reveal the petitioner’s fraudulent purpose. As a result, the high court rejected the complaint pending before the Ulhasnagar magistrate court, as well as it’s August 16 order issuing process to Amazon India via Agarwal.
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