Nagpur: The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) against instant messaging platform WhatsApp. Filed by city cyber crime expert Mahendra Limaye, the petition said that the app didn’t comply with Indian norms of retaining data for a certain time period. The court pointed out that downloading and using the app was a voluntary action of users, and so doesn’t warrant a PIL.

The division bench consisting of justice Bhushan Gavai and justice VN Deshpande acknowledged that awareness on the topic was required, but it was not the court’s jurisdiction. The petitioner pleaded that the provisions of the IT Act be made more specific on the count of retention of data by an intermediary or a service provider. The petitioner also demanded a ban on the app till the time a decision on the issue is reached.

“The amendment in the act says that any service provider is required to retain user information and data ‘as directed’. There is no specification as to how long the data must be retained. In its terms and conditions, WhatsApp says that it does not retain any information, expect for undelivered messages that are retained for 30 days ,” said Limaye, a lawyer .

This, he said, is non-compliance of the Indian laws which is done by many instant messaging platforms including WhatsApp. Limaye said that the logic behind retention of information is that it should be able to help law enforcement agencies if the need arises.

“WhatsApp can only provide the number and time of an exchange, not the contents. This has led to a lot of antisocial elements making elaborate plans on the platform. A message being mass circulated cannot even be traced to its original poster. This way not only does the app not comply with Indian regulation but is also a threat to national security,” he said.

The court said that the app being a freeware and the user voluntarily signing up the terms and conditions, it does not make a strong ground for a PIL.

