Subrata Sarma Mazumdar v. State of Assam
In the High Court of Gauhati
WP(C) 320/2020
Before Justice K. Sema
Decided on April 5, 2022

Relevancy of the case: Validity of WhatsApp message as a legal notice

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Sections 11, 12, 14)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The petitioner’s lawyer requested time to receive instructions from petitioner number 1’s family regarding the case. The lawyer recently came to know about the petitioner’s demise.
  

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates 

• The first petitioner’s counsel placed on record a copy of a WhatsApp message sent to the petitioner’s family. Further justifying the WhatsApp message, the counsel claimed that the WhatsApp message served as a legally valid notice under Sections 11, 12, and 14 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The counsel states that his legal representatives are not interested in continuing the present writ petition as they did not get a reply.

Opinion of the Bench

• The copy of the WhatsApp message furnished by the counsel shall be a part of the case record. 

Final Decision

• The WhatsApp message is a legally valid notice in terms of Sections 11, 12 and 14 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
• The Court directed the Registry to strike off petitioner number 1 from the writ petition as there was no legal representation on his behalf.