In September, lawyers at Google Inc.'s New Delhi office got a tip from an Internet user about alarming content on the company's social networking site, Orkut...Google's response: It removed not just the material but also the entire user group that contained it. The [company] feared the comments could heighten tensions...While authoritarian countries pose well-known challenges, Google is learning that even democracies such as India can be fraught with legal and cultural complications...the world's largest democracy...affords free speech to its citizens. But...the government has the authority to curtail speech rights in certain cases...Authorities say Internet companies in India, including Yahoo Inc., Facebook Inc. and Twitter, are expected to help government enforce those standards online by removing objectionable material and, occasionally, helping to track down users. Under a law that took effect in October, corporate officials from any Web site that fails to comply with requests to take down material or block sites can face a fine and a jail sentence of up to seven years....Gitanjali Duggal, Google's in-house litigator in India, says Google now has an organized approach. The company tries -- even if doesn't always succeed -- to resist many requests to remove material. "We do have elbow room in exercising our discretion," she said. "Literally on a daily basis we push back on these kinds of complaints."