Forged High Court Orders Led India to Block 129 Betting Websites

Synopsis

An investigation by Reuters revealed that India's Department of Telecommunications ordered Internet service providers to block 129 illegal betting sites this year based on two non-binding orders by the High Court that were fake. The orders are not recorded on the court's record in either court. The Allahabad High Court had filed a case in police on November 6 and Uttar Pradesh Police had lodged a case against unidentified persons. There were no arrests reported.

India's government has banned 129 online gambling sites this year after sending two High Court judgements which it has discovered were fake, according to a report by Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra of Reuters dated November 11.

According to the investigation, they discovered that

The two instructions were accompanied with email copies of the alleged court orders issued by the High Courts of Rajasthan and Allahabad that banned dozens of sites. The two orders were not available on the respective courts' website.

95 betting sites have been blocked using the Allahabad order. It was on the basis of this so-called Rajasthan order for directions issued on July 21 that the Department of Telecommunications blocked 34 sites. The documents were sent by email to officials by some individuals who were suspected to be fraudsters and they are posing as lawyers, according to Reuters. A method of generating the fake orders was not specified.

The police case

Police case documents state that the police complaint was made by the Allahabad High Court on November 6 following Reuters' findings, after realizing that the order was fake. Uttar Pradesh Police lodged a case in cops' first against unidentified persons. The complaint included sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on forged documents and trickery. At the time of the investigation, there were no reported arrests.

Why it matters

Gambling is prohibited by Indian law and takedown orders typically are based on a legal basis, either statutory or judicial. Here, one or more of the judicial authorities named has disavowed its authority. That leaves procedural issues unresolved, in terms of how the department will ensure that orders issued by court via e-mail are valid.

The two orders make up 129 of Reuters' list of 175 blocked sites. The status of the Rajasthan order in any police investigation wasn't spelled out in the reports examined.