Legal Notice Via WhatsApp Valid, Says Court, Bases Evidence On Blue Tick

The Bombay High Court on Friday said that legal notices sent on phone messaging application WhatsApp will be treated as valid evidence in court. A legal notice received by an individual on their WhatsApp account will be treated same as receiving a physical copy of the notice.

The high court made its observation while hearing a case filed by State Bank of India's card payments division. In the case, SBI informed the court that their client, Rohit Jadhav, a resident of Mumbai, was evading their calls and notices.

SBI went on to inform the court that on June 8 an officer authorised by them served a legal notice to Mr Jadhav via WhatsApp. "The PDF file (legal notice) was not only delivered, but was opened as well," they informed the court.

The PDF file also informed Mr Jadhav about the next date of hearing in court. This was done after Mr Jadhav repeatedly evaded their calls and avoided meeting their officers.

The WhatsApp message however, was seen, opened, and read by Mr Jadhav, as indicated by the messaging app's 'blue tick' and 'message info' icon.

Justice Gautam Patel, who was hearing the case, said ""For the purposes of service of notice under Order XXI Rule 22 of the Code of Civil Procedure, I will accept this. I do so because the icon indicators clearly show that not only was the message and its attachment delivered to the respondent's number, but that both were opened as well."

The high court has asked SBI to provide Mr Jadhav's residential address on the next date of hearing so that a warrant, if necessary, can be issued against him.

Mr Jadhav, who is a repeat offender in credit card defaults, owes SBI over Rs. 1 lakh in dues. In 2010, he had defaulted on payment of credit card dues amounting to Rs 85,000. In 2011, he lost a case in court and was ordered to pay the amount along with the interest on it.

According to the law, a legal notice can be served to an individual or firm via registered post or by visiting in person. However, this has changed in recent times after the enactment of the I-T Act, which recognises electronic communication such as e-mails and text messages as legal evidence.

(With input from PTI)