Madhya Pradesh HC states forwarding message on WhatsApp group not grounds for action

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has granted relief to a government employee, ruling that the state government cannot discipline him for allegedly sending political comments on a WhatsApp group.

A government employee in Alirajpur was charged with violating Rule 3 of the Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1965 for forwarding the reportedly inappropriate message to a WhatsApp group that included numerous employees.

The petitioner stated that his six-year-old daughter was using his mobile, and “inadvertently she forwarded the message in the group, therefore, that was not intentional and bona fide mistake and submitting apology”.

The single-judge Bench of Justice Vivek Rusia, in his order, passed on February 28, said, “Even otherwise, forwarding any message in a Whatsapp group does not comes in any of the provision of Rule 3(1)(i) and (iii) of Rules of 1965.”

“If any member forwards a message in the Whatsapp group, it does not mean that it is his personal opinion. Any message in the form of text, photo or video sent in Whatsapp group is confined to the members of the said group. It cannot be said that message had been made public,” he said, Indian Express reported.

The court held that the “Whatsapp group is always formed by friends and like minded people amongst the contact list”.

“Without the prior permission, a third person cannot be added in the group. If any member of the group is not willing to continue, he may exit or delete the group from his mobile. Therefore, it is a personal and private group which has nothing to do with office work of the Government. The Government has not issued any circular or made statutory provision for Government employee/office to create WhatsApp groups, therefore, any activity of Government employee in the group cannot be linked with serious disciplinary rules,” the order said.

Abhishek Sharda, the petitioner’s lawyer, challenged the chargesheet against his client because he has “not made any derogatory remarks in public and this group is only confined to the members of the group”.

“The forwarded message is not his personal opinion, it was only a message which came in his mobile from another group, which he forwarded without any intention to defame any political party or person or religion,” Sharda argued.

The respondents, which included the state government, district collector and other officials, argued that “it is not expected from the petitioner to forward such a political message even in the Whatsapp group”.