The Centre ordered the blocking of 129 websites after being misled by forged court orders purportedly issued by the Rajasthan and Allahabad High Courts,
Reuters reported. The fake directives were allegedly used to deceive the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) into instructing Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to restrict access to the websites. The DoT issued the blocking orders on July 21 and September 2. Both directives were accompanied by email attachments purporting to be official High Court orders. However, a verification of court records revealed that neither document had been formally registered with the respective courts. Neither of the purported orders could be traced in the online registration records of the respective High Courts, the global news agency reported. Responding to queries from Reuters, the Rajasthan High Court registrar confirmed via email that the document issued in the court's name "appears to be fraudulent" and did not exist on its server. The court, however, did not provide further details. Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Police last week registered an FIR against unidentified individuals after the Allahabad High Court administration discovered that the DoT had relied on a forged court order to block 95 websites. The FIR was lodged under Sections 318(2), 336(2), 336(3), 337, 338 and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Live Law reported. The complaint was filed by a High Court Joint Registrar following the Chief Justice's directions to register an FIR. According to Reuters, the incident involved an email sent to the telecom department at 8:59 pm (1529 GMT) on Sunday, July 19. The message carried a purported Rajasthan High Court order bearing the signature of "Aryan Chaudhary", who was identified as an advocate-on-record. The purported order, which has since been found to be forged, directed authorities to implement its instructions within 24 hours and claimed to have been issued under the seal and authority of the High Court registrar. It invoked a provision of India's Information Technology law that empowers the government to order content takedowns on national security grounds. Two days later, the government directed Internet Service Providers to block 34 betting websites "as specified in the court order as per the enclosed list", according to an official communication examined as part of the Reuters investigation. The other forged document purportedly originated from the Allahabad High Court. It reportedly carried the court's logo and seal, along with a QR code. However, the QR code attached to the document redirected users to an unrelated webpage displaying only a case number: "Writ -- A 30480/2026". The same reference number also appeared in a forged Allahabad High Court order emailed to Indian officials on August 22 by a person claiming to be advocate Kartikey Pandey. The forged order dated August 14, purportedly issued by the Allahabad High Court, bore the signature of "Justice Garima Prashad".
