Non-certified WhatsApp chats can’t be evidence: High Court

New Delhi, July 6

WhatsApp conversations can’t be used as evidence in a court without a proper certificate, as mandated under the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Delhi High Court has said.

The ruling came on an appeal filed by Dell International Services India Private Limited against the Delhi State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission’s December 2023 order upholding a district consumer court’s refusal to take on record the company’s written statement on the ground of delay.

Dell India contended that it did not receive the entire complaint copy and its annexures in time from the complainant’s counsel before the district consumer court.

However, a Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad refused to consider the screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation with the complainant in support of the company’s claim.

“The screenshot of WhatsApp conversations cannot be taken into account by this court while dealing with a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution, more so, when there is nothing to show that the conversations were produced before the state commission as this court does not find any reference of the same in the present petition,” Justice Prasad said.