Bengaluru, Karnataka: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday ordered the Centre to take action to block the operation of Proton Mail in India.
The directive came in response to a petition filed by M Moser Design Associates India Pvt Ltd, which claimed that obscene emails targeting one of its employees were sent through Proton Mail to other staff and clients. The company argued that due to Proton Mail’s refusal to disclose sender details, effective police investigation had been hampered.
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Despite lodging a complaint with the police, the company claimed no progress could be made due to the end-to-end encrypted nature of the platform and its foreign jurisdiction.
The court ordered the immediate blocking of URLs containing the offensive content and directed the Centre to begin proceedings to regulate or block the email service in India. “Till such proceedings are taken up and concluded by the Government of India, the offending URLs indicated in the petition shall be blocked forthwith,” the court stated, as quoted by Bar and Bench.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Jatin Sehgal emphasised that the platform posed a “national threat”, citing its untraceable communication features and lack of user identity verification. He added that Proton Mail, operated from Switzerland, not only failed to cooperate with Indian authorities but also offered guidance on bypassing surveillance by Indian agencies.
Sehgal also referenced recent incidents in which bomb threats to schools were allegedly issued through Proton Mail.
The High Court concluded that given the gravity of the situation and the obstacles to domestic investigation, interim action was warranted to mitigate harm and prevent future misuse.
Sehgal highlighted that Proton Mail had removed its servers from India, complicating law enforcement’s ability to trace or prosecute offenders. The petitioner also urged the court to engage Swiss authorities through diplomatic channels.
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The High Court had reserved its judgement on March 21, and on April 29, it issued a strong directive to the central government, emphasising that Proton Mail’s unregulated operations posed a risk to public safety, individual privacy, and national security.
The Centre is now tasked with taking up the matter with appropriate agencies and initiating steps to block or restrict the platform in India, as per the court’s instructions.
(With inputs from other agencies)
