The Delhi High Court has issued a directive making electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) verification mandatory for all domain name registrations in India.
The court ordered that domain registrars must verify the identity of every registrant before activating a domain name and must not allow anonymous or unverified registrations.
The directive also states that privacy masking of domain ownership details cannot be enabled by default and may only be applied after identity verification has been completed.
Registrars have been instructed to maintain accurate and verified registrant data and to share updated records with the National Internet Exchange of India on a regular basis.
Law enforcement agencies must be provided full registrant information within a specified time frame when formally requested.
The court directed authorities to develop a uniform verification framework for domain name registration to strengthen accountability and reduce misuse of domains for cyber fraud.