India's telecoms ministry blocks 129 sites using forged court orders, Reuters finds

India’s Department of Telecommunications directed internet providers to cut off access to 129 gambling sites this year, relying on two state high court rulings that Reuters identified as likely forgeries. The directives, issued in July and September, remain on the ministry’s website. The findings have sparked at least one police probe and exposed weaknesses in the country’s digital content removal framework.

Reuters reported that the first directive, dated July 19, purportedly originated from the Rajasthan High Court and bore the signature of an advocate named Aryan Chaudhary. The court’s registrar later told the news agency the document "appears to be fraudulent" and was missing from the court’s servers. The second ruling, dated August 14, was attributed to the Allahabad High Court and signed by Justice Garima Prashad. An advocate named Kartikey Pandey sent this document to the ministry. The Allahabad High Court filed a police complaint on November 6 after confirming no such order existed in its records.

LiveLaw reported that Uttar Pradesh police registered a First Information Report against unknown persons for forgery and cheating. The FIR was filed under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita after the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court ordered the investigation. The forged document included the court’s emblem, seal, and a QR code meant for verification, though the code led to a generic webpage rather than an authenticated record. Scroll noted that when it attempted to access the QR code independently, it was untraceable.

The takedowns affected 34 sites under the Rajasthan directive and 95 under the Allahabad directive. These platforms featured gambling and streaming of Indian Premier League matches. The government’s telecoms department, which issued the blocking directions, did not respond to queries from Reuters. The forgeries are part of a broader trend of fake legal orders affecting digital governance, including a recent incident where Elon Musk’s platform X received fake police notices from an imposter, according to Scroll and LiveLaw.