Read Time: 04 minutes

The Allahabad High Court recently refused to grant bail to a man accused of sharing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s one morphed image on WhatsApp. Allegedly, a distorted image of the Prime Minister with the face of a pig was shared on a WhatsApp group of which accused Mohd. Imran Malik was 'admin'.

The bench of Justice Mohd. Aslam rejected Malik’s plea moved under section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, claiming that he had not shared the demeaning image rather he was only the Group Admin of the concerned WhatsApp group.

Malik’s counsel had alleged that the message containing PM’s image was sent by some other person namely Najam Alam and Malik was only the group 'admin, therefore, no case was made out against Malik under section 66 of the Information Technology Act.

On the other hand, the Additional Government Advocate (AGA) had countered this averment stating that the “liability of the sender of the message and that of the 'group admin' is co-extensive and it cannot be said no offence under Section 66 of the I.T. Act is made out against Malik.”

Considering the case records, court opined that it appeared that Malik was a 'group admin' and he was also a co-extensive member of the said WhatsApp group.

Therefore, in view of this fact, court dismissed Malik plea finding find no cogent reason to interfere.

Recently, in a matter pertaining to morphed images of PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on Facebook, the Allahabad High Court observed that “Persons who are deliberately involved in such acts directly or behind the curtain with (an) oblique motive...are hazardous to the civilized society. Court added that "they are not entitled for any sympathy in justice delivery system."

Observing thus, court asked the Government to take appropriate remedial measures/steps to control and eradicate such proliferating and booming devastating menace and to stop the misuse of social media platforms.

Case Title: Mohd.Imran Malik v. State Of U.P And Another