Beware! It's 3 years in jail for viewing torrent site, blocked URL

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Over the years, the Indian government has banned thousands of websites and URLs in the country with the help of internet service providers or under the directive of the courts.

In August 2015, the government banned at least 857 sites for their pornographic contents. Moreover, the government also banned about 170 objectional sites.

And all this while, visiting these blocked sites and URLs were almost fine - that is until now.

However, as per report, if you try to visit these sites and view information, you could get a 3-year jail sentence and be fine a sum of Rs 3 lakh too.

As report in India Today, this penalty is just for viewing a torrent file or downloading a file from a host that is banned in India.

The report further states that it is not necessary for users to download a torrent file such as videos, but just visiting the sites and viewing the information is enough to land one in jail and be fined a sum of Rs 3 lakh too.

If you visit a blocked torrent site or URLs, you will be shown the following warning, the report says.

"This URL has been blocked under the instructions of the Competent Government Authority or in compliance with the orders of a Court of competent jurisdiction. Viewing, downloading, exhibiting or duplicating an illicit copy of the contents under this URL is punishable as an offence under the laws of India, including but not limited to under Sections 63, 63-A, 65 and 65-A of the Copyright Act, 1957 which prescribe imprisonment for 3 years and also fine of upto Rs. 3,00,000/-. Any person aggrieved by any such blocking of this URL may contact at urlblock@tatacommunications.com who will, within 48 hours, provide you the details of relevant proceedings under which you can approach the relevant High Court or Authority for redressal of your grievance"

This is a change from the previous message which read that the site has been blocked on the directive of the Department of Telecom (DoT) or the court.