WhatsApp group admin can’t be held liable for member’s post unless common intention shown: Bombay HC

Holding that an admin of a WhatsApp group can’t be held liable for a member’s post unless common intention is shown, the Bombay HC said that when a person creates a group, he cannot be expected to presume or to have advance knowledge of criminal acts of a member.

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court recently held that a WhatsApp group administrator can’t be held vicariously liable for objectionable content posted by a member of the group unless it is shown that there was a “common intention” or “pre-arranged plan”. The division bench of Justice Z A Haq and Justice Amit B Borkar observed this as it quashed an FIR and set aside the proceedings against a Whatsapp administrator in a magistrate court of Gondia. “Even if the allegations in the FIR are accepted as correct, and considering the material in the form of the charge sheet on its face value, it does not disclose essential ingredients of offences alleged against the applicant under sections 354-A(1)(iv), 509 and 107 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000,” the HC said.