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After a brief and fumbling ban on porn, the Indian government seems to be trying ban torrents -- the very idea of torrents.

If you visit a torrents website, a report suggests, you might be committing a crime, one that earns a 3 lakh fine and 3 years in jail. (And you know they don't have Wi-Fi in jail).

The extent of this ban extends to looking at "a torrent file, or downloading a file from a host that may have been banned in India, or even for viewing an image on a file host like Imagebam.”

On a URL which showcases such banned content, a warning will pop up on your screen:

"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”

Originally posted on Times of India.