Liking a post not same as sharing it: Allahabad High Court
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Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has ruled that merely liking a social media post does not constitute publishing or transmitting it and therefore does not fall under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, which addresses obscene and objectionable material.
Justice Saurabh Srivastava made this observation while quashing criminal proceedings against Imran Khan, an Agra resident accused of liking a provocative post on social media. The court clarified that Section 67 pertains specifically to obscene content and does not apply to provocative material.
"Even otherwise, from the material on record, it appears that no message which could be provocative in nature is available on record, and merely liking a message will not attract a penalty u/s 67 of the I.T. Act or any other criminal offence," the court added.
The court was addressing an application filed under Section 482 of the CrPC, which pertains to the inherent powers of the high court. The petitioner sought to have a case against him dismissed, which was filed for liking a social media post by Chaudhari Farhan Usman. The post in question mentioned a protest gathering planned near the collectorate to submit a memorandum to the President of India.
Khan was booked for "provocative messages on social media, which resulted in the assembly of about 600-700 persons belonging to the Muslim community for arranging a procession without permission." Quashing the proceedings, the court had also observed, "Even otherwise, Section 67 of the I.T. Act is for obscene material and not for provocative material."
The words "lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest" mean relating to sexual interest and desire, therefore, Section 67 I.T. Act does not prescribe any punishment for other provocative material," the court said.
During the hearing, the applicant's counsel argued that no such content was present on his Facebook account. However, the police claimed that the content had been deleted, though similar material was found on WhatsApp and other social media platforms. After reviewing the evidence, the court concluded that Imran Khan had merely liked a message shared by another individual, and no offence was made out against him.
"Having heard the counsel for the applicant and having perused the record, I do not find any material which could connect the applicant with any objectionable post, as there is no offensive post available in the Facebook and WhatsApp accounts of the applicant," the court said in its order passed on Thursday.
(inputs from PTI)
