Daijiworld Media Network - Kasargod (SP)

Kasargod, Feb 25: A verdict of Kerala high court has said that group admins cannot be held responsible for the objectionable posts made by the WhatsApp group members.

"Every member of the WhatsApp groups has his own sets of responsibilities. He has to understand them and act responsibly. Irrespective of who posts objectionable messages, pictures or videos, it amounts to crime. Therefore those who post the items are directly responsible and not the group admins. Criminal law is clear on this matter," said Justice Kauser Edappagath in his judgement.

Background

A WhatsApp group named 'friends' was created in 2020. The group had three admins. The third admin had uploaded a child porn video to the group. A case was registered about this. When registering the case, in addition to the third admin, the first admin was named as the second defendant. The first admin had questioned this issue through a petition filed in the high court.

Justice Kauser said that the members of WhatsApp groups have equal responsibilities and there is no concept or difference between the owners and servants here. The person who has erred is directly responsible. Just because there is an admin does not mean that the sins committed by the group members can be blamed upon him. This will be against the tenets of criminal law, the judge pointed out.

It may be noted that currently for objectionable posts and videos in WhatsApp groups the admins are held responsible even for posts created by members.