Google has removed a Khalistan-linked smartphone app named ‘2020 Sikh Referendum’ from its Play Store, following a demand by the Punjab govt. The state had described the application, which called upon users to vote for the creation of Khalistan, as “secessionist & anti-India”.
A govt spokesperson on Tuesday said the app wasn't available on Google Play Store anymore for mobile users in India. On Nov 9, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh had given directions to officials for taking up the matter with the IT giant, while urging the Centre to direct the company to take down the controversial app immediately.
Amarinder had asked the Director General of Police (DGP) to coordinate with central security agencies to tackle the threat resulting from the app, created by ‘ICETECH’. The creators of the app had asked the public to register themselves to vote in the ‘Punjab Referendum 2020 Khalistan’. A website by the address www.yes2khalistan.org was also launched on the same lines for the same purpose.
During analysis of the said application & the website in DITAC Lab of Punjab, it was found that the data of voters registered through the app was also linked & stored in the web server of the website, namely www.yes2Khalistan.org, created & handled by ‘Sikhs For Justice’ (SFJ), an association banned in India.
The spokesperson said the cyber crime centre of the Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of Punjab had moved to get the app removed from Play Store & the website was blocked for use in India.
On Nov 8, a the bureau sent a notice under Section 79 (3) B of Information Technology Act to Google’s legal cell for immediate removal of the mobile application from the Play Store, added the spokesperson. After obtaining approval from Punjab additional chief secretary (home), the bureau also sent a request letter to the cyber law division of the Centre’s department of electronics & information technology for blocking the application from Google Play Store & the website, under Rule 9 (blocking of information in case of emergency) of Blocking Rule (IT Procedure & Safeguards for Blocking Access of information by public) Rules, 2009.
On Nov 9, Inspector General of Police (IGP) (crime) Nageshwar Rao, who is the incharge of state cyber crime cell & DITAC Lab, raised the issue with the legal cell of Google India, which too felt that its was being abused for committing illegal & anti-national activities by Sikhs For Justice, said the spokesperson.
After this, the app was reomved from Play Store. Amarinder had reacted strongly to the app & to easy availabilit. He gad claimed that it was aimed at pushing the ISI agenda of dividing the Sikh community amid the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev.
Website still working
Even as the Khalistan-linnked app 2020 Sikh Referendum has been removed from Google Play Store , the website https://www.yes2khalistan.org/ continues to be functional. Before one is able to register to vote on the website, this is what the website asks: “The registering vote in the unofficial Referendum 2020 you agree that questions of self-determination, Khalistan & independence of Indian held Punjab should be resolved according to the wishes of the indigenous people of Punjab ascertained through the peaceful & non-violent means of referendum.”
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