Science & TechTech Policy
Kerala High Court asks Centre, Apple and Google to explain BitChat block
A bench led by Chief Justice Soumen Sen has given three Union ministries and the two app store owners four weeks to file affidavits on why the offline Bluetooth messaging app was taken down in India.
Key points
- The Kerala High Court has sought affidavits from three Union ministries, Apple and Google on the BitChat block.
- The respondents have four weeks to reply, and the case returns on 11 November.
- BitChat works over Bluetooth without internet, and it spread among protesters during Delhi's shutdowns.
The Kerala High Court has asked the Union government, Apple and Google to explain why BitChat, a messaging app that works over Bluetooth without the internet, was blocked in India, putting the first judicial spotlight on a takedown that digital rights groups say was aimed at protesters.
A division bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Syam Kumar V M issued notice on a public interest petition filed by the Appropriate Technology Promotion Society, an Ernakulam-based group. The bench directed the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, along with Apple India and Google India, to file affidavits within four weeks. For now the replies are limited to the decision to block BitChat. The court has kept open the question of whether the petition is maintainable, and the case is listed again on 11 November.
What the petition says
The petitioners argue that the block violates the rights to equality and to freedom of speech and expression, and ignores natural justice, procedural fairness and proportionality. They say the authorities did not follow the 2009 rules that govern blocking orders under the Information Technology Act, and they want the order disclosed and quashed.
No blocking order has been made public. Apple and Google removed the app from their Indian stores in early October, saying they were complying with government directions under the IT Act. Jack Dorsey, the Twitter co-founder behind the open-source app, posted on 3 October that it had been officially pulled from the App Store.
Why BitChat matters to protesters
BitChat lets phones pass messages to one another over Bluetooth, so it keeps working when mobile data is cut. It drew a following in Delhi during the internet shutdowns around the NEET UG protests at Jantar Mantar in July, and again after a shutdown during a Jantar Mantar protest on 2 October, shortly before the latest block.
An earlier order in July, issued by the Home Ministry’s cybercrime coordination centre, had told GitHub to take down BitChat’s code within three hours. That order cited the app’s anonymous messaging without phone verification or central logs, which it said got in the way of lawful interception and could allow communication during shutdowns. Officials were reported to have told the companies orally on 24 July not to enforce it.
SFLC.in, the digital rights group backing the challenge, said using the blocking power against an entire communication app was highly disproportionate. “Enabling communication among protesters cannot, in any circumstance, be a valid ground for blocking an application,” it said.
Nikhil Pahwa, a long-time internet policy commentator, put it more bluntly: “Bitchat itself has not violated any law.”
What happens next
The Centre’s affidavit will be the first time the government has to set out, before a court, the legal and technical grounds for the block. The case comes weeks after the Supreme Court stepped in over internet restrictions linked to the Delhi protests, which have made shutdowns, and the tools people use to get around them, a live question.