The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ruled that creating or managing a WhatsApp Group does not automatically make a person criminally responsible for messages shared by other members.
The court said simply being part of a WhatsApp Group is also not enough to establish criminal liability. Receiving messages or staying in the group without action is not considered a crime.
Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh gave these remarks while hearing a post-arrest bail plea. The case involved allegations of blasphemous content being shared through a WhatsApp Group under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016.
The court explained that criminal responsibility must be linked to a person’s direct actions. It said liability cannot be based only on being a group creator, administrator, or member.
The judgment highlighted that a WhatsApp Group administrator usually cannot review or approve messages before they are posted. Because of this, an admin cannot be held responsible for every message shared by others.
However, the court added that liability may arise if there is evidence of conspiracy, support, or active involvement in spreading illegal material.
The LHC made it clear that uploading, forwarding, or intentionally sharing unlawful content can lead to criminal charges. This applies regardless of a person’s role in the group.
The court also said that reacting to a message with an emoji or showing agreement does not automatically make someone guilty. Similarly, an admin’s failure to remove objectionable content is not enough for prosecution without further proof.
In this specific case, prosecutors presented forensic evidence. A technical report linked the accused to offensive material found in the “sent” folder of his seized mobile phone.
The defense claimed the evidence might have been tampered with. But the court rejected this argument at the bail stage. It cited a proper chain of custody and found no proof of unauthorized access.
After reviewing the evidence, the Lahore High Court dismissed the bail application. The court said there was enough material to continue the case.
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However, the judge clarified that these observations were only for the bail proceedings. The trial court has now been directed to speed up the hearing of the case.
