Sunidhi-
Published on August 27, 2021, at 18:30 IST
Delhi High Court Bench issued a notice on WhatsApp’s plea challenging the “traceability” clause mentioned under Rule 4(2) of the Information Technology Rules, 2021.
The above rule is said to be violative of a person’s Right to Privacy enshrined in the Landmark Judgement of KS Puttaswamy v. Union of India.
The notice was issued by a Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh after hearing Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi for Whatsapp.
Whatsapp in the case: Whatsapp LLC v. Union of India argued that the “traceability” clause will put professionals at risk including journalists who “could be at risk of retaliation for investigating issues that may be unpopular”; civil or political activists “for discussing certain rights and criticizing or advocating for politicians or policies” and clients and attorneys “who could become reluctant to share confidential information”.
Whatsapp relying heavily on the Judgement of KS Puttaswamy v. Union of India, contends that the rule does not pass the tests enshrined under Article-21 of the Indian Constitution, violative of Article-14, Artcile-19 (1) and Sections 79, 69A of the Information Technology Act.
The plea also mentions that once citizens become aware that SSMIs have “built the ability to identify the first originator of information in India on their end-to-end encrypted messaging services“, such individuals “will not feel safe to speak freely for fear that their lawful private communications will be used against them, thereby infringing their right to privacy and free speech”.