Kerala High Court on Wednesday has ruled that WhatsApp group admins are not liable for objectionable posts that the members share in the group. This ruling comes as the court quashed a POCSO case against the admin of a WhatsApp group, where one member had posted content related to child pornography.
The court backed, Bombay and Delhi High Courts’ stand that only privileges an admin of WhatsApp groups have over other members is the right to add or delete any post. “A WhatsApp Admin cannot bean intermediary under the IT Act. He does not receive or transmit any record or provide any service with respect to such record,” the court said.
The ruling comes in favour of the petitioner who asked the court ton quash the POCSO case against him. The petitioner had formed a WhatsApp group and had also made two other member admins. In the group, a member had posted a sexually explicit video that featured children. As such, the police had booked the member as well as the petitioner under the Information Technology Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act.
The court further said that the prosecution had no evidence indicating that the petitioner had “published or transmitted or caused to be published or transmitted in any electronic form the alleged obscene material”. There was no indication that the accused even “browsed or downloaded the said material”. There was also evidence to show that the petitioner engaged or enjoyed or facilitated the offence of the said nature.
After detailing the reasons, the Kerala HC completed quashed the case against the petitioner
