The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the Centre and WhatsApp to respond to a petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Rohit Pandey, who has challenged the suspension of his account on the messaging platform, saying it cut off access to crucial personal and professional data.
Justice Sachin Datta issued notices to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Ministry of Communications, and WhatsApp Inc, and sought their replies on Pandey’s plea. Pandey is a former secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
Pandey said his WhatsApp account was suspended “arbitrarily and unilaterally”, without prior notice or any opportunity to retrieve data such as legal drafts, client communications, and material relating to the ongoing Bar Council of Delhi (BCD) elections.
According to the petition, the sudden suspension “severely hampered” his professional work, including canvassing and effective participation in the BCD elections.
He submitted that repeated requests for review have gone unanswered, leaving him without any statutory remedy for the loss of access and data. The plea argued that such actions by digital service providers deprive citizens of their right to redressal in data-related disputes.
Pandey has sought a direction to the Centre to put in place adequate safeguards, regulatory oversight and an effective grievance redressal mechanism for users whose digital accounts are suspended or restricted.
