Indore, Apr 10 The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed the petitioner, who has challenged Instagram's decision to discontinue end-to-end encrypted messaging from May 8, to first approach the Data Protection Board of India.
In its order passed on Thursday, the Indore bench of the high court also directed the board to pass a "reasoned and speaking order" within 15 days of receiving the representation, in accordance with legal provisions.
Instagram is an American photo and short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms.
The public interest litigation (PIL), filed by local lawyer Parth Sharma, challenged an Instagram notification that states, "End-to-end encrypted messaging on Instagram will no longer be supported after May 8, 2026."
The petitioner argued that the move by the social media platform violates citizens' right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Sunil Kumar Jain stated, "The present petition does not fall within the scope of PIL."
He further submitted that the petition was filed without approaching the statutory Board constituted under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023.
A division bench of Justices Vijay Kumar Shukla and Alok Awasthi said, "Considering the aforesaid submissions of senior counsel for the respondent No.1 (Union of India), without adverting to the other contentions of the petitioner, we direct the petitioner to approach the Board constituted under Section 18 of the Act of 2023, within a period of seven days from today."
"If such a representation is filed, the Board shall take a decision, in accordance with law by passing a reasoned and speaking order, after affording opportunity of hearing to the petitioner within the next 15 days before May 6, 2026," it said.
The high court directed the petitioner to file the Board's decision before it.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on May 6.
