PIL for ban quashed.
By Dileep Thekkethil
Once again, an attempt to control the unprecedented growth of WhatsApp in India has been pulled down after the court ruled against a Public Interest Litigation that questioned the instant messaging app’s new end-to-end encryption feature.
The Supreme Court bench consisting of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice A M Khanwilkar refused to take cognizance of the PIL that seeks a ban on the world’s popular instant messaging app and similar messaging services.
The PIL filed by Sudhir Yadav had claimed that many instant messaging apps, including Whatsapp, have a highly secure encryption that poses a grave threat to the internal security of the country.
The bench while rejecting the plea asked the petitioner to approach the government or the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. But, according to Yadav, his request to the TRAI was returned as they did not possess information on the same.
According to Yadav, the newly introduced security feature introduced by WhatsApp uses an advanced encryption technology that doesn’t allow security agencies to decode the messages including message, chats, calls, images, and videos.
This highly secured encryption technology is a serious threat to the security of India as the agencies will have a tough time tracking and decoding the messages sent by suspected terrorists.
The petition requests the court to intervene and direct the Facebook-owned instant messaging app to maintain a balance so that police agencies get access to messages, thus get lawful access to private information.