Liking obscene social media post not a crime, reposting it is: HC

A criminal case was registered against petitioner Mohd Imran Kazmi and also a charagesheet was filed against him for being part of a provocative message on social media, which resulted in the assembly of about 600-700 persons

The Allahabad High Court has observed that merely liking an obscene post on any social media platform did not constitute an offence. However, sharing or reposting such a content would amount to “transmission” under Section 67 of the Information Technology (IT) Act and, thereby, attract penal consequences, the court added.

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Allowing a petition filed by one Mohd Imran Kazi of Agra, Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal quashed the criminal proceedings pending against Kazi under section 67 of the IT Act and other sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) before the court of chief judicial magistrate, Agra, for allegedly liking a post calling for an unlawful assembly.

Giving this judgment, the court observed: “It is clear as per the section 67 of the Information Technology Act that publishing or transmitting obscene material is an offence. A post or message can be said to be published when it is posted, and a post or message can be said to be transmitted when it is shared or re-tweeted. In the present case, it is alleged that there is material in the case diary showing that the applicant has liked the post of one Farhan Usman calling for unlawful assembly, but liking a post will not amount to publishing or transmitting the post, therefore, merely liking a post will not attract Section 67 of the IT Act”.

While elaborating the section, the court said, “Even otherwise section 67 of the IT Act is for obscene material and not for provocative materials. Therefore, section 67 I.T. Act does not prescribe any punishment for other provocative material.”

Regarding the present case, the court, in its decision dated October 18, said, “Even otherwise, from the material on record, it appears that no message which could be provocative in nature is available on record in Facebook of the petitioner and merely liking a message published by Chaudhari Farhan Usman will not attract penalty u/s 67 of the I.T. Act or any other criminal offence”.

A criminal case was registered against petitioner Mohd Imran Kazmi and also a charagesheet was filed against him for being part of a provocative message on social media, which resulted in the assembly of about 600-700 persons belonging to the Muslim community for arranging a procession without permission, which caused a serious threat to the breach of peace. The chargesheet was filed in 2019 and the court of CJM, Agra took cognisance of the chargesheet and issued non bailable warrant against him on June 30, 2023.