Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday directed the Central government authorities to take action under the Information Technology Act 2000 and block Proton Mail in India.

Justice M Nagaprasanna heard the petition filed by a company named M Moser Design Associates India Private Ltd that vulgar emails about its employee were sent using Proton Mail to other employees and the company's clients.

The judge said that, until the Centre implemented the measures, the offending Uniform Resource Locators (URL) indicated in the petitions would be blocked.

The company had asked the HC to issue a direction to the Centre to prohibit the use of Proton Mail in the country, adding that the servers operated outside India and claimed to be beyond the limits of Indian legislation. It also said that mails with inappropriate content, including AI-generated images, about a senior employee were sent to other staff members and business contacts of the company.

The petitioner told the court that an FIR had been filed in November 2024 but as police investigation had proved to be inadequate, legal help was sought.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aravind Kamath represented the Central government during the hearing on Tuesday while advocate Jatin Sehgal argued on behalf of the petitioner.

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New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Culture allegedly spent Rs 76.13 lakh on print advertisements marking the 100-year celebrations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), according to a Right to Information (RTI) reply.

The information was sought by RTI activist Ajay Basudev Bose, who filed an application seeking details on expenditure incurred by the ministry for advertisements commemorating the RSS centenary.

Bose shared a picture of the reply from the ministry on his official ‘X’ handle.

“It is informed that an amount of Rs 76,13,129 has been spent on advertisement given in various print media by the Ministry of Culture on the occasion of the completion of 100 years of RSS,” the government’s reply stated.

Bose questioned the expenditure in the post X, “when Everyone knows RSS is Not Registered & Does not Pay any Tax is it justified to spend Tax Payers Money on such Private event??”

Reacting to the development, Karnataka’s IT-BT and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge also criticised the spending.

In a post on X, he asked why public money was being used for what he described as a “private ideological project.”

"Modi Sarkar spent Rs 76,13,129 of public money on newspaper advertisements to celebrate 100 years of the RSS. Why is Government spending taxpayers money on an unregistered, non-tax-paying organisation to celebrate their centenary?," he added. 

According to reports, the RSS, founded in 1925, describes itself as a volunteer-based organisation and has stated that it functions as a body of individuals rather than a registered entity.