Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri and Poonch districts have ordered a two-month suspension of all Virtual Private Network (VPN) services, citing unusually high and suspicious usage patterns reported by the police.
The directions have been issued under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), a provision that allows preventive action to maintain public safety according to a report by Greater Kashmir.
What the District Magistrates Said
In Poonch, District Magistrate (DM) Ashok Kumar Sharma imposed the ban with immediate effect after receiving inputs from the police. In his order, he said, “The SSP (Senior Superintendent of Police) informed that there has been an unprecedented high usage of VPNs in the past few days at different locations of the district by suspicious internet users.”
He noted that encrypted VPN traffic, masked IP addresses, and the ability to bypass website restrictions could put sensitive data at risk and that adversaries could exploit them “in view of the prevailing situation”.
To explain, the suspension order applies to all individuals, institutions, cyber cafes and internet service providers operating in Poonch. Violations will be punishable under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Rajouri issued a similar directive earlier. Rajouri DM Abhishek Sharma suspended VPN services in the border district after a report from the Rajouri police flagged unusual activity. SSP Gaurav Sikarwar had informed the administration about “unprecedented and suspicious use of VPN services in various areas of the district”. According to the order, the police assessed that a significant number of users were using VPNs to mask locations, bypass blocks, and transmit encrypted data.
The Rajouri administration stated that such use could potentially aid activities “prejudicial to public order”, including spreading inflammatory content, evading monitoring mechanisms and posing cyber-security risks. The ban, the order noted, was a preventive step to safeguard law and order in a district that is located close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan.
Notably, with both Rajouri and Poonch enforcing identical restrictions within days of each other, the entire Pir Panjal region of the Jammu division is now under a coordinated suspension of VPN services until early next year.
J&K’s Doda Imposed Similar VPN Ban in May 2025
Earlier this year in Doda, DM Harvinder Singh, acting under Section 163 of the BNSS, banned the use of VPNs after officials found that some individuals were “misusing the VPNs to circumvent cyber restrictions and access prohibited applications, websites and digital content, jeopardising national security”.
The order applied to all users and service providers in the district, and was accompanied by a separate directive from Additional DM Anil Kumar Thakur restricting hate speech, provocative statements, and real-time coverage of…
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