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In response to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)’s order requiring phones to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app, Indian digital advocacy organisation Internet Freedom Foundation filed a Right to Information (RTI) with the DoT on December 2, stating that they will fight “till it is rescinded.”

On Monday, December 1, news spread that the government had ordered leading phone companies like Apple, Samsung, Vivo, and Xiaomi to pre-install their cybersecurity app, Sanchar Saathi, which aims to help users identify their IMEI numbers and block mobile theft.

However, its terms restricted users from disabling or uninstalling the app, and required firms to push the app through software updates for phones already in circulation.

The DoT direction said that action will be taken as per the provisions of the Telecommunications Act 2023, the Telecom Cyber Security Rules 2024, and other applicable laws if the firms fail to comply.

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) is an Indian digital rights advocacy organisation that defends democracy and civil liberties against threats in India.

In their statement, IFF argued that the direction represents a stark and “worrying expansion of executive control over personal digital devices.”

The IFF expressed that although the state’s aim to reduce and monitor IMEI fraud is legitimate, the chosen methods are “disproportionate, legally fragile, and structurally hostile to user privacy and autonomy.”

Because the directive also includes a restriction that disables it, IFF claims that in practice, it will need system-level or root-level access, which essentially “erodes the protections that normally prevent one app from peering into the data of others.”

Thus, turning Sanchar Saathi into “a permanent, non-consensual point of access sitting inside the operating system of every Indian smartphone user.”

Citing the Puttaswamy v. Union of India case, in which the Supreme Court unanimously declared the right to privacy as a fundamental right in 2017, it claimed that “forcing a permanent app” is a “textbook example of disproportionate state action under the Puttaswamy standard.”

“In effect, the state is asking every smartphone user in India to accept an open-ended, updatable surveillance capability on their primary personal device,” their statement read.

It added that the directive, which lacks the basic guardrails of a constitutional democracy, was “deeply concerning” and called for its recall.

The DoT’s direction has received massive pushback not just from IFF. Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP KC Venugopal called the directions “beyond constitutional,” categorising the app as a “dystopian tool to monitor every Indian.”

Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi from Shiv Sena (UBT) said, “Sanchar Saathi mobile application mandate to every mobile phone manufacturer as a permanent mobile feature by the GoI is nothing but another BIG BOSS surveillance moment.”

Many fear the app could store spyware or serve as a carrier for malware, despite the government claiming it helps block cybersecurity threats.

Users free to keep or delete Sanchar Saathi: Jyotiraditya Scindia

Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday said the Sanchar Saathi app, a fraud reporting app the government wants pre-installed on all devices, can be deleted by users.

Users can decide to keep the Sanchar Saathi app or delete it, Scindia told reporters on Tuesday.

“If you want to delete it, then delete it. But not everyone in the country knows that this app exists to protect them from fraud and theft,” Scindia said.

He further noted that, “It is our responsibility to make this app reach everyone. If you want to delete it, then delete it. If you don’t want to use it, then don’t register it. If you register it, then it will remain active. If you don’t register it, then it will remain inactive.”

(With inputs from PTI)