The Allahabad High Court has noted that merely expressing approval for an explicit post on a social media platform is not considered a legal offense. Nevertheless, the court clarified that distributing or reposting such content falls within the category of "transmission" as defined in Section 67 of the Information Technology (IT) Act, and thus, it could lead to legal consequences.

In response to a petition filed by Mr. Mohd Imran Kazi from Agra, Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal ruled to dismiss the ongoing criminal proceedings against Kazi. These proceedings were initiated under Section 67 of the IT Act and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The charges stemmed from Kazi's alleged act of liking a post that called 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”.

Further, 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”.

Case Brief -

A criminal case was initiated against the petitioner, Mr. Mohd Imran Kazmi, and a chargesheet was filed against him. The charges stemmed from his alleged involvement in a provocative message on social media, which led to the assembly of approximately 600-700 individuals from the Muslim community. This assembly was for organizing a procession without the necessary permission, and it posed a significant threat to the peace and order.

The chargesheet in this case was filed back in 2019, and the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Agra acknowledged the chargesheet. Subsequently, on June 30, 2023, a non-bailable warrant was issued against him.

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