Kerala HC rules that WhatsApp group admin not responsible for objectionable posts by members
By MYBRANDBOOK
The Kerala High Court on Wednesday, as part of a major decision, ruled that a WhatsApp group admin cannot be held responsible for any objectionable content posted by a group member. The judgement was made by Justice Kausar Edappagath, who observed that vicarious liability in criminal law is only applicable when a statute prescribes the same.
The court also observed that the basic principle of crime jurisprudence is that mens rea must be an ingredient of an offence and both the act and intent must concur to constitute a crime.
The petitioner in the case had created a WhatsApp group called 'Friends'. The group had two other admins apart from him. One of the admins, who is the first accused in the case, posted child porn on the group in March 2020.
A case was registered against the group admins based on Section 67 B (a, b and d) of the Information and Technology act and sections 13, 14 and 15 of the POCSO act. The petitioner was made the second accused since he created the group. This led to him approaching the court.
"There is no master-servant or a principal-agent relationship between the admin of a WhatsApp group and its members. It goes against basic principles of criminal law to hold an admin liable for a post published by a group member," said the court.
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