The Supreme Court on Thursday junked a PIL seeking directions to the Centre to ban the operation and use of WhatsApp. The PIL demands action against the social media platform, saying action must be taken against the messaging app if it does not comply with the orders of the authorities in the country. A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar dismissed the plea.
The court said it was not inclined to entertain the plea filed by Kerala resident Omanakuttan KG, a software engineer.
Omanakuttan in his plea contended that the messaging platform had refused to comply with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
WhatsApp was violating the fundamental rights of citizens: PIL
The PIL alleged that WhatsApp was violating the fundamental rights of the citizens guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution and posing a potential threat to national interest and national security.
"If the app was not willing to change its technology and did not cooperate with the government, it should not be allowed to operate in the country. The Centre had banned many websites and mobile apps for acting against the interest of the country," the plea said.
(With PTI inputs)
