The Bombay High Court has held that a WhatsApp group administrator cannot be held liable for objectionable content posted by a group member, in the absence of common intention. This was first reported by LiveLaw. "A group administrator cannot be held vicariously liable for an act of member of the group, who posts objectionable content, unless it is shown that there was common intention or pre-arranged plan acting in concert pursuant to such plan by such member of a WhatsApp group and the administrator. Common intention cannot be established in a case of Whatsapp service user merely acting as a group administrator," the Nagpur bench of the court held. Kishor Tarone, the WhatsApp group admin in question, was charge-sheeted under Section 354A (making sexually coloured remarks), 507 (insulting a woman's modesty), 107 (abetment) of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 67 of the IT Act (punishment for publishing obscene material online). Tarone had challenged an FIR and charge-sheet against him for not acting against a group member who had posted objectionable remarks against a female member. The woman had argued that Tarone had not removed or deleted the accused member from the group, and did not ask the accused to submit an apology to her. In our opinion, in the facts of present case, non-removal of a member by administrator of a WhatsApp group or failure to seek apology from a member, who had posted the objectionable remark, would not amount to making sexually coloured remarks by administrator. The court…
