After SC rap, WhatsApp appoints Grievance Officer for India
New Delhi, Sep 23: After being pulled up by the Supreme Court for not appointing a Grievance Officer and complying with other laws of India, WhatsApp on Sunday appointed Komal Lahiri as the Grievance Officer for the country.
Based out of WhatsApp's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, Lahiri can be contacted via email and general post by over 200 million users in the country.
"To contact the Grievance Officer, please send an email with your complaint or concern and sign with an electronic signature.
"If you're contacting us about a specific account, please include your phone number in full international format, including the country code," said the FAQ under the security and privacy settings.
If you want to contact WhatsApp, go to Settings, then Help and Contact Us section.
"You can contact the Grievance Officer with complaints or concerns, including the following: WhatsApp's Terms of Service and Questions about your account," read the information.
"If you're a law enforcement official, please read our information for law enforcement authorities and how you can contact us," it added.
The move came after the Supreme Court on August 27 issued notice to the Centre and WhatsApp over a plea that said while companies like Facebook and Google have appointed Grievance Officers for users in India, WhatsApp has not.
"In order to make WhatsApp accountable, it must be directed to comply with Indian laws and appoint a Grievance Officer who shall address grievances of the consumers as well as co-ordinate with investigating agencies," said the plea.
Every user has a number on WhatsApp but the messaging platform does not have a number through which the users can contact the company for grievance redressal, it added.
Last month, Union Information Technology (IT) Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also told WhatsApp CEO Chris Daniels to comply with the Indian laws and take "suitable" steps to prevent misuse of the instant messaging platform in the country.
Daniels' meeting with the IT Minister came against the backdrop of several incidents of mob lynching being linked to the circulation of fake messages and misinformation on the instant messaging platform.
Prasad told Daniels to set up a grievance officer in India, establish a corporate entity and comply with the laws of the country.
Daniels said he would undertake these initiatives.
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U'khand: Too poor to afford ambulance, woman ties brother's body to taxi roof, travels 195 kms
Haldwani (Uttarakhand), Dec 8: Unable to afford a private ambulance service, a woman took her brother's body, tied to the roof of a taxi, to a village in Pithoragarh district, 195 kilometres away.
Taking cognizance of the incident, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had ordered an inquiry into the matter and directed the officials to take strict actions against the culprits.
According to police, Shivani (22), a resident of a village in Berinag lived with her younger brother Abhishek (20).
On Friday, Abhishek came from work early and complained of a headache. He was later found unconscious near a railway track and taken to Sushila Tiwari Government Medical College in Haldwani for treatment. The doctors declared him dead.
After conducting the post-mortem, the police handed over the body to Shivani on Saturday.
She reportedly spoke to many ambulance drivers standing outside the hospital mortuary to take her brother's body home but they asked for Rs 10,000 - 12,000 as fare.
Being unable to arrange for the fare price, she called a taxi driver from her village and was forced to take the body by tying it to the roof of the vehicle and travel 195 kilometres.
When asked about the incident, Dr Arun Joshi, Principal of Sushila Tiwari Government Medical College, said that the incident happened outside the hospital because of which it did not come to his notice.
He said, "If it had happened inside the hospital or if I was asked for help, I would have helped."
The patient's relatives who were standing outside the hospital said that no one supervises private ambulances and they charge exorbitant fares for taking patients.
Dhami has asked the state Health Secretary Dr R Rajesh Kumar to conduct a detailed investigation into the matter and take strict action against the culprits, a government spokesperson said.
हल्द्वानी, उत्तराखंड में 20 साल के अभिषेक की मौत हो गई। घर 200 KM दूर था। एंबुलेंस वालों ने लाश पहुंचाने के 10-12 हजार रुपए मांगे। बहन शिवानी पर इतने पैसे नहीं थे। हाथ-पैर जोड़कर बहन ने एक टैक्सी वाले को राजी किया। टैक्सी की छत पर लाश बांधी, पिथौरागढ़ पहुंचाई।
— Sachin Gupta (@SachinGuptaUP) December 8, 2024
शुक्रिया UK सरकार pic.twitter.com/acl5Z9iLFY
