A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Kerala High Court seeking a ban on WhatsApp, alleging it was not cooperating with the country's law-enforcement agencies.
In his plea, Omanakuttan K G from Idukki district alleged the instant messaging platform has a separate privacy policy for the European region which is in tune with the laws prevailing there.
"If the app is amenable to laws of European region and can change its functionality in accordance with the laws of European region; why is it hesitant to abide by the laws of our country?" the petitioner asked.
The petitioner said the app has approached the Delhi High Court claiming it is not amenable to the newly introduced IT rules because it cannot trace the origin of the messages due to its end-to-end encryption policy.
The app also claims that the newly introduced IT rules are against the right to privacy as held in the Justice Puttaswamy case, the petitioner said.
Contending that WhatsApp is not free from manipulations and lacks security, the petitioner submitted the app is also used by anti-national and anti-social elements for their activities.
He said he filed the petition in national and public interest.