Kerala HC stays order summoning WhatsApp India representative over info on obscene video

Kerala HC stays summons against WhatsApp

Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas of the Kerala High Court on February 20 stayed a lower court order to summon WhatsApp India representative Krishna Mohan Choudhary over not providing details of the originator of an obscene video of a woman in the instant messaging application.

The court noted that since the offence for which the representative was summoned is punishable by an imprisonment of less than five years, the order summoning the representative is to be stayed. As per the Information Technology (IT) digital media ethics rules, a major social media intermediary such as WhatsApp is required to provide details of the originator only for offences punishable with imprisonment for a term of not less than five years.

The development transpired in a writ petition filed by WhatsApp challenging the order of a chief judicial magistrate in Thiruvananthapuram summoning the representative over WhatsApp refusing to provide details of a person who uploaded the obscene videos of a woman hailing from Kilimanoor on the app.

The case will now come up for hearing after the Kerala and the Union government file their response to WhatsApp's plea. Lawyer Tejas Karia represented WhatsApp in Kerala High Court.

In 2023, the Tripura High Court had stayed an order by a trial court asking platform's authorities to disclose the identity of the originator of a chat that  contained fabricated resignation letter attributed to Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha.

After a police investigation revealed that obscene videos of a woman were shared on WhatsApp, they had moved the trial court and asked it to direct WhatsApp to furnish them with details such as the mobile number/IP address of the perpetrator’s WhatsApp account.

However, WhatsApp did not comply with the court's order contending that it was against their privacy policy. However, the Kerala cyber police contended that as per the digital media ethics rules 2021, the Meta owned instant messaging platform was required to reveal the details sought for.

Owing to this the magistrate passed an order summoning WhatsApp's India representative. The company had appeared in the trial court through its lawyer and sought time, the case was to come up on February 21, wherein the representative was supposed to appear in person at the court.