Kochi: The Kerala High Court has held that if members of a Whatsapp group post an offending matter then a case cannot be registered against the group administrator in the name of that post.
The group administrator cannot control, censor or play down the messages posted by group members in the group. Justice Kausar Edapagath clarified that there are no provisions in the law to hold the group administrator accountable for the illegal posts sent by member of the group.
The high court made its position clear while quashing the case against Cherthala native Manual, the creative administrator of a WhatsApp group.
A case was registered by the Ernakulam City police against him in connection with an obscene video related to children posted on the group, and is currently pending before the court.
The court said that the relationship between the group admin and members is not that of employer and worker or head and agent. To hold the group admin accountable for a post sent on the group by a member is against the criminal law. The Bombay and Delhi high courts have pointed out that the group administration had only had powers to add or remove members from group.
The moral accountability and responsibility for the offence can only be fixed if there are specific provisions in the Indian Penal Code.
The owner of a place becomes accountable for unlawful assembly and public nuisance aimed at creating violence only because there are specific provisions of the law for such offences.
There are no such provisions even in the POCSO and IT Act cases included in the case. The court quashed the case.
