The Kerala High Court has quashed the proceedings against two persons who were accused of defaming Kerala Chief Minister and other State Ministers in a WhatsApp Group.

The accused filed a Petition before the Court under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC), challenging the proceedings before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate.

A Single Bench of Justice Kauser Edappagath observed, “The upshot of the above discussion is that even if the entire allegations in Annexure A1 final report together with the materials collected during investigation which form part of the final report are believed in its entirety, no offence under Section 120(o) of the KP Act or Section 43 r/w 66 of IT Act is made out against the petitioners.”

The Bench added that where the allegations in the FIR or complaint and the evidence collected in support of the same during investigation do not disclose the commission of any offence or make out a case against the accused, the High Court can exercise the wholesome power under Section 482 of CrPC to quash the proceedings.

Advocate Arun B. Varghese appeared on behalf of the Petitioners while Public Prosecutor Sangeetha Raj N.R. and Advocate Salim V.S. appeared on behalf of the Respondents.

Factual Background

The Petitioner were the accused Nos. 2 and 3 and they faced indictment for the offences under Section 120(o) of the Kerala Police Act, 2011 (KP Act) and Section 43 read with 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act), on the allegation that that they posted a message in a WhatsApp group defaming and insulting the Chief Minister and other Ministers of Kerala. The Petitioners were the members of an education society named SAT Health Education Society (SATHHESH) in Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. The members of SATHHESH have allegedly formed a WhatsApp group, namely “SATHHES PLANET”. The 1st accused was the administrator; the Petitioners and the 2nd Respondent were the members of the said WhatsApp group.

The Medical College Police registered a crime against the 1st accused and the Petitioners alleging offence punishable under Section 120(o) of KP Act based on the Complaint given by the Chairman of SATHHESH to the Chief Minister. After investigation, final report was filed before the Trial Court, incorporating the offence under Section 43 r/w 66 of the IT Act as well, along with Section 120(o) of the KP Act. The prosecution allegation was that the Petitioners and the 1st accused repeatedly posted messages in the above-mentioned WhatsApp group, which are derogatory and insulting to the Kerala Chief Minister and other Ministers. Being aggrieved, the Petitioners were before the High Court.

Reasoning

The High Court in view of the facts and circumstances of the case, noted, “If someone dishonestly or fraudulently engages in any of the acts outlined in Section 43 of the IT Act, offence under Section 66 of the IT Act gets attracted and they can be punished for the said offence. Thus, the offence under Section 43 read with Section 66 of the IT Act only contemplates a situation where someone dishonestly or fraudulently does any act under Section 43 of the IT Act.”

The Court said that there is no allegation at all that the Petitioners caused damage to or destroyed the computer or computer system and there is no allegation that they engaged in any of the acts outlined in Section 43.

“For the aforementioned reasons, no useful purpose will be served by allowing the criminal prosecution against the petitioners to continue and hence, Annexure A1 final report and all further proceedings in C.C.No. 281 of 2019 on the files of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Thiruvananthapuram against the petitioners are hereby quashed”, it concluded.

Accordingly, the High Court allowed the Petition and quashed the case against the accused persons.

Cause Title- Dipin Vidyadharan & Anr. v. The State of Kerala & Anr. (Neutral Citation: 2025:KER:37200)

Appearance:

Petitioners: Advocates Arun B. Varghese and R. Sanjay Sankar.

Respondents: Public Prosecutor Sangeetha Raj N.R., Advocates Salim V.S., and K.S. Haseena.

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Swasti Chaturvedi

Assistant Editor

Swasti Chaturvedi is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum, specializing in meticulously covering Supreme Court and High Court Judgments. She holds a postgraduate degree - LL.M. in Business Law and B.B.A. LL.B. from the Department of Law, PIMR, Indore, Madhya Pradesh. She brings over two years of expertise in legal writing and editing to her role. Prior to Verdictum, she worked as a Legal Analyst in the Corporate Sector.