Is Tor legal in India? What the law says

As of November 2026, using Tor is legal in India. No law or government order we found bans it, and the 2022 rules that make VPN providers keep customer records don’t mention Tor or cover individual citizens.^[1][2] But some networks appear to block Tor, and government staff are told not to use it.

Do India’s VPN rules cover Tor?

The rules in question are directions issued on 28 April 2022 by CERT-In, India’s national cyber-security agency, under section 70B(6) of the Information Technology Act. They took effect 60 days later. They require data centres, virtual private server (VPS) providers, cloud providers and VPN service providers to record each customer’s validated name, address and phone number, email address, the IP addresses allotted to them, the dates they hired the service, their purpose and their “ownership pattern”. The records must be kept for five years or longer after the customer leaves.^[1]

Neither the directions nor CERT-In’s published FAQ on them mention Tor. The FAQ says plainly that “individual citizens are not covered by these Directions”. It also says the VPN rule doesn’t apply to company VPNs: it’s aimed at entities offering “Internet proxy like services through the use of VPN technologies” to “general Internet subscribers/users”.^[2]

Tor is set up differently. It’s software maintained by the Tor Project, a non-profit, and the relays that carry its traffic are run by volunteers around the world.^[3]

Is Tor banned or blocked in India?

Not by law, but some providers appear to block it. The best public evidence comes from OONI, the Open Observatory of Network Interference, which publishes network tests run by volunteers.

Between 1 May and 10 November 2026, OONI’s Tor test, which checks whether Tor can be reached, came back normal in 97–99% of about 19,100 tests on Jio and 14,300 on Airtel. On three other networks, nearly every test flagged an anomaly: 2,127 of 2,137 on BSNL, 413 of 428 on Vodafone Idea and 217 of 218 on Tata Teleservices. OONI counts an anomaly as a sign of possible blocking, not a confirmed block.^[4]

OONI’s tests of the Tor Project’s website in the same period showed a similar split. The site loaded normally in almost every test on Jio, Airtel and BSNL, but in much smaller samples, 8 of 10 tests on Vodafone Idea and all 7 on Tata Teleservices flagged anomalies.^[5]

Blocking by individual providers isn’t new. In 2018, a post on the Tor Project’s blog described Siti Networks, a large cable broadband provider, blocking all of Tor’s main directory authorities (the servers that publish the list of Tor relays), 129 of the 150 fallback directory addresses and more than half of the default bridges. The company said someone senior in its management thought Tor was “very insecure and dangerous for the users”. The author still connected through the bridges built into Tor Browser.^[6]

Can the government block or monitor Tor traffic?

The IT Act gives the government broad powers over online information. Section 69A lets the central government order any government agency or “intermediary”, a term that includes internet and telecom providers, to block public access to information. The grounds include India’s sovereignty and integrity, defence, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states and public order. An intermediary that doesn’t comply faces up to seven years in prison and a fine.^[7]

Section 69 lets the central or a state government order an agency to intercept, monitor or decrypt information generated, sent, received or stored in any computer resource, on similar grounds or to investigate any offence. When called on, “the subscriber or intermediary or any person in-charge of the computer resource” must give “all facilities and technical assistance”, including to decrypt the information. Failing to help can bring up to seven years in prison and a fine.^[7]

Is Tor safe to use in India?

Tor stops someone watching your connection, such as your mobile or broadband provider, from learning which sites you visit, and stops those sites from learning your location.^[3] It doesn’t hide the fact that you’re using Tor: by default, anyone watching your traffic can tell, though connecting through a bridge reduces that risk.^[8] Separately, CERT-In’s directions require service providers to keep “logs of all their ICT systems” for a rolling 180 days.^[1]

No tool offers perfect anonymity, either. If you sign in to an account or type in your name, email or phone number, that site knows who you are.^[8] Our guide to Tor Browser explains what Tor protects, and on a phone, see Tor on iPhone and Android.

For one group the answer is clear: government staff at work. CERT-In’s information security guidelines for central government bodies and public-sector enterprises tell offices not to allow “installation of Tor browsers or such anonymizer plug-ins for standard web-browsers”. Their section for employees, including contract and temporary staff, says: “Don’t use any 3rd party anonymization services (3rd party VPN, Tor, Proxies etc).”^[9] These are security rules for government workplaces, not a ban for the public.

What’s still illegal when you use Tor?

Tor changes how your traffic travels, not what the law allows. Under the IT Act, it’s a crime to publish or send sexual material involving children, or to seek, browse or download it, with up to five years in prison for a first conviction (section 67B). Dishonestly or fraudulently accessing or damaging computer systems (section 66) and cheating by impersonation using a computer or phone (section 66D) are crimes too.^[7]

What can you do if Tor is blocked on your network?

Try a bridge. Bridges are entry points to Tor whose addresses aren’t published, so you have to ask for them.^[10] Tor Browser also comes with some built in, which is how the Siti Networks customer got connected in 2018.^[6] To get more, choose “Request bridges” in Tor Browser’s connection settings, visit bridges.torproject.org, message @GetBridgesBot on Telegram (send /obfs4 or /webtunnel), or email bridges@torproject.org from a Gmail or Riseup address.^[10]

A bridge also makes it harder for your provider to tell that you use Tor.^[8] It doesn’t change what’s legal. For other countries, see Is Tor legal? A country-by-country guide, including our pages on China and Australia.