The government on Wednesday said the requirement of tracing origin of flagged messages under the new IT rules is for prevention and investigation of 'very serious offences' related to the sovereignty of India or public order.
In a statement, the IT Ministry termed WhatsApp's last moment challenge to the intermediary guidelines as an unfortunate attempt to prevent norms from coming into effect.
The Centre said the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada require social media firms to allow for legal interception
The IT ministry said "What India is asking for is significantly much less than what some of the other countries have demanded."
The IT ministry said government recognises that 'Right to Privacy' is a fundamental right and is committed to ensure the same to its citizens.