The Allahabad High Court recently cancelled a criminal case against a man who was charged under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 67 of the IT Act just for ‘liking’ a post on social media. The post was accused of encouraging an illegal public gathering.
Justice Saurabh Srivastava, who heard the case, said that simply liking a post doesn’t mean the person is sharing or spreading it. So, it cannot be treated as a crime under Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, which deals with sending or sharing harmful or offensive content online.
Khan had gone to the court asking for the cancellation of a charge sheet filed against him on April 6, 2021, and to stop the ongoing criminal case. He was accused of sharing a social media post that allegedly led to a gathering of 600–700 people from the Muslim community in Agra back in 2019. Because of this, he was charged under several laws, including sections related to unlawful assembly and online offences, specifically Sections 147, 148, and 149 of the IPC, Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, and Section 67 of the IT Act.
The cybercrime team had earlier stated that they didn’t find any objectionable content on Khan’s Facebook account. But the prosecution argued that Khan had deleted the post, and the message was still being shared through WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
The court looked closely at Section 67 of the IT Act, which deals with the publishing or sharing of obscene content. The judge pointed out that this law only applies if the content is sexually offensive or meant to appeal to dirty or indecent interests. Even if a message is provocative or inflammatory, it doesn’t fall under this section unless it’s obscene.
The judge also made it clear that simply liking a post isn’t the same as posting or sharing it. He said, “A message is considered published when someone posts it, and it’s transmitted when it is shared or retweeted. Just liking someone else’s post doesn’t count as a crime under Section 67 or any other law.”
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