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Back in July this year, the Indian government's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) blocked BGMI in the country. MeitY never officially revealed the reason or their stance on banning the game until a fan filed an RTI (Right to Information) appeal to seek answers about the decision.
The RTI request filed by a Twitter user, @godyamarajop, led to MeitY revealing its official stance on the BGMI (Battlegrounds Mobile India) ban, which, in turn, revealed that the game was banned after a request by MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs). Based on their reply, this occurred due to issues related to privacy and national security concerns.
A response to an RTI request reveals why MeitY banned BGMI in India
Looking at their official response, MeitY made the decision after the request of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Furthermore, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology implemented the ban as per Section 69A of IT Act, 2000 and Rule 16 of IT Rules, 2009.
Here's what the official answer read:
"Based on the requests received through designated nodal officers from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has blocked the game application Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) under the provision of section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 and the Information Technology (Procedure and safeguards for blocking for access of information by public) Rules, 2009."
The RTI appeal's answer also stressed the following reasons that were responsible for the ban:
- Sovereignty and integrity of India
- Security of the nation
- Relation with the foreign state
Although the RTI response didn't directly place any allegations on Battlegrounds Mobile India or Krafton, it did confirm reports pointing towards the data sourcing of the game's Indian servers to those in China.
In addition to this official reason and MeitY's stance on Battlegrounds Mobile India, the response to the RTI appeal also confirmed that the game's developer/publisher, Krafton, had a meeting with the concerned authorities to resolve the issue.
However, their reply didn't provide any further details about what happened in that meeting, maintaining confidentiality.
Will Battlegrounds Mobile India get unbanned in the country?
As of now, neither this latest RTI response nor Krafton have provided fans with a concrete answer regarding the future of Battlegrounds Mobile India. However, considering similar issues with PUBG Mobile and Free Fire in the past, it seems unlikely that Battlegrounds Mobile India may return.
Players should not keep their hopes up and can consider exploring other alternatives to BGMI until Krafton provides an update on the situation.
