According to the IIPM blocking report, the order to block 78 websites was based on a court order in Gwalior.
The actual order of DIT however does not mention any Court order. It simply says “It has been decided to immediately block the following URLs”
It is not clear why IIPM decided to contact a court in Gwalior instead of a Court in Delhi where IIPM has its main activity. In fact there must be some interesting reason what benefit IIPM foresaw in approaching a Gwalior Court. Perhaps it was aware that DIT had a special respect for this court.
The second aspect is that should an order of a Court in Gwalior have be considered to have jurisdiction only for the region to which the Court’s has jurisdiction. By virtue of this order, the constitutional rights of millions of Indians in places outside the normal jurisdiction of the Gwalior court has been infringed without any body being given an opportunity to defend. This also means that the dispute resolution clauses of website disclosures and terms and agreement where the choice of a forum has been indicated is rendered meaningless.
If we recognize that the blocking order was issued by the DIT in regions to which the Gwalior Court order may not apply, it means that the action of DIT was illegal. Under Section 69A of ITA 2008 and the rules there under blocking of any website outside the provisions of law is equivalent to an offence under Section 66 of ITA 2008 and hence punishable with imprisonment for who so ever caused the same.
Visitors can provide their views on the issue.
Naavi
