New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has said the defence of free speech and the right to privacy cannot be used by any entity, including an infringer, to escape the consequences of illegal actions.
Complying with the 30 August ruling that held that courts in India can direct a messaging app to disclose the information of infringers, Telegram has disclosed the admin names, phone numbers and IP Addresses of the channels which are accused of unauthorised sharing of the study material prepared by Campus Private Limited and its teacher Neetu Singh for various competitive examinations..
Justice Prathiba M. Singh in the order dated 24 November said the names of admins, the phone numbers and IP addresses of some of the channels as are available with Telegram have been supplied.
“Let copy of the said data be supplied told. Counsel for Plaintiffs with the clear direction that neither the Plaintiffs nor their counsel shall disclose the said data to any third party, except for the purposes of the present proceedings. To this end, disclosure to the governmental authorities/police is permissible,” said the court, as per the report.
Taking the affidavit of Telegram along with the chart containing the data on record, the court directed the registry to retain the data in a sealed cover.
“List before the Court for case management on 14th February, 2023. This shall not be treated as a part-heard matter. Matter shall be listed before the Roster Bench,” the court said in the order.
On 30 August, the court rejected Telegram’s argument that it cannot share the data relating to the creators or users of the channels, as the said data is stored in its data servers in Singapore and the law there prohibits such disclosure.
The court had noted that though Telegram was blocking the channels which were disseminating infringing material, the users were creating new channels and operating in private mode.
