Sudhir’s sole intention to ban Whatsapp is that if in case an attack is being planned against India, the Indian Police/Intelligence will not be able to decrypt messages or take any action.
Along with Whatsapp, Sudhir has also named messaging apps including Hike, Secure Chat, LeuPost, Wicker me, Viber, Telegram etc which have also encrypted its messages.
According to Sudhir, four Indian laws have been violated by this encryption policy. They include:
“Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, which grants the Government the power to order the interception of messages;”
“Rule 419A of the Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951, which lays down the procedural requirements which must be followed for telephone tapping to be legal;”
“Section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which deals with the power to issue directions for interception or monitoring or decryption of any information through any computer resource;”
“Information Technology (Directions for Interception or Monitoring or Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009.”
