Supreme Court Dismisses Plea to Ban WhatsApp in India
The Supreme Court judges instructed the petitioner to approach the authorities who are in the know.
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a PIL urging it to ask the government to seek the private key from WhatsApp and similar applications to access their contents in times of need.
An apex court bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice AM Khanwilkar asked the petitioner, Sudhir Yadav, to approach the appropriate authorities.
Yadav, a Haryana-based RTI activist had moved the Supreme Court to look into the encryption-policy of the app earlier this week.
Reports further add that he was not asking for a ban on WhatsApp but wanted the government to ask WhatsApp and 20 other similar applications to share their private key if and when required. He reiterated his point by citing similarities to what the government insisted vis-a-vis BlackBerry.
Yadav said that in the absence of the private key, it would take the government years to access a message.
But as the PIL has now been dismissed, Yadav might have to go by his word and return to using the app as it is.
(With agency inputs)
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