The Bombay High Court has an important message for WhatsApp users. The court has advised WhatsApp users to behave with a sense of responsibility while communicating on the platform. The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court made the observation while refusing to quash a case against a man for posting content allegedly spreading hatred against a religious group.
In an order passed on July 12, a division bench of Justices Vinay Joshi and Valmiki SA Menezessaid that the purpose of WhatsApp status is to convey a message to other users in the contact list.
The bench further noted that users often keep checking the WhatsApp status of their contacts.
The court dismissed the petition filed by 27-year-old Landkar seeking to quash the FIR lodged against him for allegedly hurting or offending religious sentiment or faith. Landkar was also charged with provisions of the Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Information Technology Act.
The court said, “WhatsApp status can be a picture or video of what you are doing, thinking or something you have seen, which disappears after 24 hours. The very purpose of WhatsApp status is to convey something to a person’s contacts. It is nothing but a mode of communication with known persons.”
What the FIR is about
In March 2023, Landkar allegedly uploaded his WhatsApp status with a religiously offensive post. In this post, he wrote a question and asked the viewers to search for the same on Google to get shocking results. When the complainant searched Google for the question he noted that objectionable material outraging religious feelings were shown as results.
The accused claimed that he wasn’t intending to or deliberately displayed the status to outrage the feelings of any religious group. He also mentioned that had no intention to spread hatred as WhatsApp status can be seen only by those who have saved the number of the other person. In its order, the bench said the WhatsApp status uploaded by the accused provoked others to do a Google search and read what the accused person wanted them to see.
“The applicant cannot shed his responsibility by saying the WhatsApp status is limited circulation. There is no justification for the applicant to display such a status,” the HC said.
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