The High Court of Delhi ordered the Central Government to restrain WhatsApp from implementing the new privacy policy since it contravenes the Information Technology Rules of 2011. It will prevail till the High Court decides on the validity of the scheme. Further, on March 18, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology filed an affidavit to this effect.
A plea filed by Dr Seema Singh, Meghan and Vikram Singh followed by an affidavit asked the Central Government to instruct WhatsApp to reverse the new policy or provide an opt-out option to the users as an alternative. Moreover, the petitioners’ contention stated that the new policy violated the rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
The Central Government put forward an order restraining the implementation of the latest policy considering the following reasons:
- The policy fails to state the type of personal data collected.
- The policy does not provide clarity on the user details acquired from the personal information.
- The policy does not provide an option to amend either review the information.
- Retrospective withdrawal of consent not permitted by the policy.
- No guarantee specified by the policy concerning the non-disclosure by the third parties.
Case: Dr Seema Singh v. Union of India
