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The Uttar Pradesh Police last week registered an FIR against unknown persons after the Allahabad High Court administration found that a fake HC order had been relied upon by the Centre [Department of Telecommunications (DoT)] to direct the blocking of 95 websites, news agency Reuters reported.

The FIR has been lodged under Sections 318(2), 336(2), 336(3), 337, 338 and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) on the complaint filed by a Joint Registrar of the High Court after the Chief Justice ordered registration of an FIR.

The purported order, dated August 14, 2026, was shown as having been passed by Justice Garima Prashad. However, the High Court's records revealed that no such order had been passed.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) later relied on this order when it issued a direction on September 2 to internet service providers to block access to 95 websites allegedly streaming fake Indian Premier League (IPL) matches and operating betting platforms.

The matter came to the High Court's notice after Reuters technology reporter Munsif Vengattile mailed the Court administration on October 30, seeking confirmation about the authenticity of an order he had found on the DoT's website.

The order was purportedly passed in Writ-A No. 30480 of 2026, identified as Sahil Singh v. Director General (DoT Cyber Law) and Others. It bore the date August 14, 2026, and the name of Justice Garima Prashad.

The communication available on the DoT website showed that the purported forged order had been sent to the department by a person identifying himself as advocate Kartikey Pandey. The department subsequently referred to the order while directing internet service providers to block 95 websites.

Following the Reuters query, the High Court administration sought a report from the Registrar (Judicial)/Computer regarding the genuineness of the order.

The verification revealed that no case bearing Writ-A No. 30480/2026 existed in the Court's online records. The internal inquiry revealed that no order dated August 14, 2026, had been uploaded in any such proceedings.

In view of this, the High Court administration approached the police for registration of an FIR against unknown persons.

In related development, a Reuters investigation published on November 11 reported that the purported High Court order carried the Court's logo and seal and also contained a QR code, which ordinarily allows verification of court orders.

However, scanning the QR code led to a random webpage displaying the case number Writ-A No. 30480/2026, rather than an authenticated court record.

The investigation also found that the DoT had issued a blocking direction on September 2, relying on the purported order, asking internet service providers to take immediate necessary action against 95 websites. The websites reportedly included platforms associated with betting and the streaming of purported fake IPL matches.

The DoT's communication and the purported court order were available on the department's official website, Reuters reported.

The Reuters investigation also refers to a separate forged order purportedly issued by the Rajasthan High Court. That order was also used as the basis for a DoT direction dated July 21 to block 34 betting websites.

The Rajasthan High Court's Registrar informed Reuters that the order bearing the Court's name "appears to be fraudulent" and did not exist on its server.

This means that two purported orders of two different High Courts were used by the Centre to block access to a total of 129 websites.

Recently, X Corp (formerly Twitter) informed the Delhi High Court that the takedown notices sent by it to Internet Freedom Foundation and SFLC were by some impostor and not by the Delhi Police.

X's counsel told Justice Amit Mahajan that a complaint has been filed with the Delhi Police to find the impostor and that no action is taken against IFF and SFLC.

The Court was dealing with the petitions filed by IFF and SFLC against the takedown notices which sought removal of their accounts.

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