The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) summoned Telecommunications Secretary Amit Agrawal on Saturday to provide an urgent explanation regarding a major security lapse, which resulted in the blocking of 129 websites based on fabricated High Court directives. The bureaucrat was required to cut short an official visit to another state to appear before senior PMO officials following revelations that fraudulent judicial paperwork had been used to initiate the takedowns.
The controversy involves two purported court orders—one bearing the name of the Rajasthan High Court and another attributed to the Allahabad High Court. These documents, which included counterfeit logos, forged seals, and fake QR codes, were emailed to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) by individuals impersonating lawyers. Relying on these documents, DoT field officers instructed internet service providers across the country to restrict access to 129 online platforms. While online betting is prohibited in India, the incident has raised significant concerns about the vulnerabilities in the digital content-takedown framework, specifically regarding the potential for such protocols to be exploited against legitimate businesses.
The respective court registries confirmed that the orders were non-existent. The Allahabad High Court lodged a formal police complaint on November 6 after verifying that no such order had ever been issued, while the Rajasthan High Court registrar also flagged their associated document as fraudulent. Remarkably, both forged files remained publicly accessible on the DoT’s official portal for months alongside departmental correspondence. As of Saturday, one of the documents remained visible on the government website.
Key facts
- The PMO summoned Telecommunications Secretary Amit Agrawal on Saturday regarding the blocking of 129 websites.
- The blocks were initiated based on forged documents impersonating the Rajasthan and Allahabad High Courts.
- The Allahabad High Court filed a police complaint on November 6 after confirming the order was fake.
- An internal ministry inquiry and a criminal investigation by state police into forgery and cheating are ongoing.
- Forged documents were emailed to the DoT by individuals posing as lawyers.
Why it matters
The incident has sparked alarm at high levels of government, as the ease with which forged documents bypassed official scrutiny raises questions about the integrity of the digital content-takedown system. Authorities are now investigating how field officers failed to conduct basic registry cross-checks before issuing blocking orders.
Background
This episode follows broader concerns regarding fabricated legal precedents, with the Supreme Court of India previously warning that the creation of fake judicial documents strikes at the foundation of public trust.
Source: News18, Times of India
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