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Centre issued 129 website takedown directions based on fake HC orders, reports ‘Reuters’
The Union government issued directions to block 129 illegal betting websites this year based on two High Court orders that were found to be fake, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The Department of Telecommunications issued the directions on July 21 and September 2, based on purported orders from the Rajasthan High Court and the Allahabad High Court.
The directives were available on the department’s website, with copies of the purported court orders attached, Reuters reported.
Scroll could independently find only the September 2 directive on the website. The purported Allahabad High Court order attached to it carried the court’s logo, seal and a QR code. Reuters reported that the code led to a webpage displaying only a case number. However, when Scroll attempted to access the QR code, it was untraceable.
Both the takedown orders do not appear in the High Courts’ online registration records, Reuters reported.
In response to queries from the news agency, the Rajasthan High Court’s registrar said that the order “appears to be fraudulent” and did not exist on its server.
The Allahabad High Court said that the order bearing its name was fake. The High Court also filed a police complaint in the case on November 6, the news agency reported. An investigation has been initiated in the case for alleged forgery and cheating.
The purported Allahabad High Court order was dated August 14 and bore the name of Justice Garima Prashad. Police documents cited by Reuters said that the judge’s office confirmed that no such order had been passed.
A person identifying himself as advocate Kartikey Pandey sent the purported Allahabad High Court order to the department on August 22, Reuters reported.
The purported Rajasthan High Court order was sent to the telecommunications department by email on July 19 and was signed by Aryan Chaudhary, described as an advocate-on-record, Reuters reported. However, an email sent to Chaudhary bounced back with a “recipient not found” notification.
The Department of Telecommunications did not respond to Reuters’ queries on the matter.
This came against the backdrop of the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch registering a first information report on Saturday about fraudulent notices sent in the department’s name to social media platform X. The notices sought to block the accounts of digital rights groups Internet Freedom Foundation and Software Freedom Law Centre.
The FIR was registered against unidentified persons under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to forgery and impersonation of a public servant, as well as computer-related offences under the Information Technology Act.
On Friday, the social media platform told the Delhi High Court that an internal investigation had established that the notices were not genuine police communications and had been sent by an “imposter”.
Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.
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Source: Scroll.in
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