Hyderabad, September 22: The AP police are likely to block the short message service (SMS) facility on mobile phones on Sept. 24, the day on which the Allahabad High Court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on the Ayodhya title dispute.
The precaution is being considered in view of the circulation of provocative SMSes relating to the dispute.
If the decision is taken, it will be the first time that the SMS facility is blocked in the state.
The suggestion came from the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and the AP police are likely to make a request to service providers to block the service at least for a few hours on D Day. The verdict is likely to be delivered by 3.30 on Sept. 24.
Hyderabad police commissioner A K Khan has already held several meetings with cell phone service providers.
He requested them to check the spread of provocative SMSes and inform the police if they came across objectionable contents.
The service providers reportedly told him it was not possible to keep tabs on every number receiving or sending provocative messages.
Their difficulty arises from the fact that their main servers are located in Delhi or Mumbai. However, they are not averse to the idea of completely blocking the SMS facility on all mobile numbers but that needs the approval of the state government.
The police will have to write to the government which in turn will place the request to the telecom authorities.
Sources said the idea is to block SMSes from 3.30 pm on Sept. 24 till midnight.
At his interaction with the media on Tuesday, A K Khan said, ‘’Provocative SMSes, letters and CDs are in wide circulation and we have requested the service providers to keep a watch on them.’’
“Already, thousands of SMSes about the verdict are in circulation,’’ a police officer said.
–Agencies