A court in India has ordered the government to block the encrypted email service, Proton Mail, due to concerns arising from a legal complaint filed by M Moser Design Associates, a design firm based in New Delhi. The complaint alleges that Proton Mail was used to send inappropriate and vulgar content to the firm’s employees.
On Tuesday, during a YouTube-streamed hearing, Justice M Nagaprasanna instructed that Proton Mail be blocked in accordance with the Information Technology Act of 2008. In their complaint lodged earlier in January, M Moser Design Associates sought governmental action, as the email platform did not disclose the identities of the senders involved in the alleged misconduct, despite a police report.
Representing the Indian government, Additional Solicitor General Aravind Kamath informed the court that the government’s capacity to address the petitioner’s worries might be limited and suggested that criminal courts could procure relevant information from Swiss authorities since the emails originated from there.
As of now, checks by TechCrunch suggest that access to Proton Mail in India is still available. The publication reached out to Proton Mail for comments, promising updates if a response is received. This recent ruling is part of an ongoing legal struggle for Proton Mail within India, marking the second such judicial decision in as many years aimed at restricting the service.
In a previous incident last year, Tamil Nadu police attempted to block Proton Mail after it was implicated in sending bomb threat hoaxes to local schools. While the Indian government’s IT ministry initially sent out notifications to ISPs to block the service upon request from law enforcement, the Swiss authorities intervened to halt these actions.
Proton Mail has argued that blocking their service would merely hinder lawful citizens from secure communication, without stopping criminals who could easily switch to alternative email services, particularly if they are located outside of India.
In October 2024, the Delhi High Court also prompted state police and the Indian home ministry to investigate the use of Proton Mail throughout the country. Kamath assured the Karnataka High Court that he would look into this ruling, which follows growing scrutiny of Proton Mail’s presence and use in India.
As legal battles continue, the implications of this ruling on user privacy and secure communication remain a vital topic of discussion within the tech and legal communities.
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