NEW DELHI  - U.S. companies Facebook, Google and Yahoo, and other internet firms, have been ordered by two Indian courts to remove material considered religiously offensive, the latest skirmish in a growing battle over website content in the world's largest democracy. One court in the capital Delhi on Friday issued summons to 19 companies to stand trial for offences relating to distributing obscene material to minors, after being shown images it said were offensive to Hindus, Muslims and Christians, the PTI news agency said.

Another Delhi court earlier this week told the websites to remove photographs, videos or text which might hurt religious sentiments. "We believe that access to information is the foundation of a free society," a Google spokesman said in an emailed statement. "Where content is illegal or breaks our terms of service we will continue to remove it."

Earlier this month, Telecoms Minister Kapil Sibal urged Facebook, Twitter, Google and others to remove offensive material, unleashing a storm of criticism from internet users complaining of censorship.

The Delhi court cases were brought by individuals, one by a journalist and the other by an Islamic scholar who runs a website called fatwaonline.org that gives answers to moral questions.

Despite rules to remove offensive content, India's internet access is largely free when compared with tight controls in fellow Asian economic powerhouse China. But in line with many other governments around the world, India has become increasingly nervous about the power of social media. India has 100 million internet users, the third-largest user base behind China and the United States which is forecast to grow to 300 million users in the next three years.