Maharashtra issues alert for WhatsApp admins

The district police authorities of Maharashtra has issued an alert, for the group admin of popular messaging platform WhatsApp, as part of reducing no objectionable content circulation among groups.

“We have issued a letter to all police stations, asking them to summon WhatsApp group admins in their areas in person, and tell them that they should avoid such content in the group,” said Parbhani, Sub Divisional Police Officer.

Admins have to make sure that their groups are free from defamatory flagged contents on historical figures, places of worship, anything that may hurt religious sentiments in the form of pictures, audio and video clips. Any such post should be reported to the police, added the statement.

Strict actions for such flagged content circulated in WhatsApp would be registered under the IPC Act on Information Technology, said Dilip Zalke, District Superintendent of Police.