WhatsApp Privacy Policy: Judge withdraws from case after Facebook email to court

Justice Prathiba M Singh of Delhi High Court on January 15 recused herself from hearing the petition challenging WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy.

Justice Singh took objection to an email received by the Court from WhatsApp before announcing to recuse herself from the matter.

The email, that Facebook-owned WhatsApp later withdrew unconditionally, reportedly pointed out that Justice Singh had appeared in a connected matter when she was a lawyer and, thus, cannot hear the case again.

"I am not going to hear this case. I was, in any case, not going to hear it," Justice Singh said even as Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma implored the judge not to recuse, Bar and Bench reported.

ASG Sharma said that there was no better bench to hear the case. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for WhatsApp, asked the matter to be listed before a single-judge bench.

The matter will be next heard on January 18.

Read: Brokerages, advisory firms prefer Telegram to WhatsApp, here's why

Justice Singh, 52, has been judge of the Delhi High Court since May 2017.

In 2016, as an advocate, she represented the petitioners in a case filed against instant messaging service, WhatsApp, in which the Delhi High Court ordered the platform to remove user information belonging to those who had deleted their accounts in anticipation of changes to the privacy policy.

After joining the bar in 1991, she practiced primarily on intellectual property law. In 2013, Singh represented pharma giant Cipla against Novartis, in a case that established Cipla's right to produce generic versions of cancer medication patented by Novartis.

In the petition put up on January 15, advocate Chaitanya Rohilla, had said the revised policy of WhatsApp was in violation of fundamental rights.

Also read: WhatsApp Privacy Policy 2021 | Read the full text here

The plea also said the Facebook-owned platform's policy provided a "360-degree profile into a person's online activity", without any government oversight.

"WhatsApp has made a mockery out of our fundamental right to privacy while discharging a public function in India, besides jeopardizing the National Security of the country by sharing, transmitting and storing the users data in some another country and that data, in turn, will be governed by the laws of that foreign country", the petition reads.

WhatsApp has received backlash over the policy, due to concerns over data sharing with Facebook. After WhatsApp's update, messaging services such as Telegram and Signal have seen a surge in popularity since they are viewed as more secure.

WhatsApp issued a clarification through the platform and newspaper advertisements, stating that the update relates to communication with businesses.

"We want to be clear that the policy update does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way. Instead, this update includes changes related to messaging a business on WhatsApp, which is optional, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data," WhatsApp said.

The Union government has begun an 'examination' of the new policy, suggesting that it is watching out for potential privacy violations.