SC dismisses PIL seeking a ban on WhatsApp

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Synopsis

In 2021, a similar PIL was dismissed by the Kerala High Court which sought a ban on WhatsApp for not complying with the new IT rules, 2021

The Supreme Court of India has today refused to entertain a petition seeking to ban on WhatsApp for not complying with the IT rules.

A division bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar has dismissed the petition filed by one Omanakuttan KG.

In 2021, the Kerala High Court had dismissed a similar Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Omanakuttan, saying that the petition was ‘premature’.

The PIL alleged that WhatsApp had failed to follow the new IT Rules that were notified in February 2021. Accordingly, the PIL sought a total ban on the usage of the application.

It accordingly sought a ban on usage of the application, stating that due to non-compliance WhatsApp may fail to provide government agencies access to user messages, by failure to modifying the end-to-end encryption.

The petitioner while highlighting the fact that WhatsApp adheres to the privacy laws of the European Union, had also questioned the reasons behind not following the Indian laws.

WhatsApp had the also filed a petition challenging the rules on basis of violation of the fundamental right to privacy is pending in the Delhi High Court.

Case Title: Omanakuttan KG vs. WhatsApp Applications Services Private Limited and ors