For a second time this year India has blessed news headlines for all the wrong reasons. Earlier this year, the Indian government was identified assaulting their own people in Kashmir while placing a curfew in the province that still continues to this day. So, if that wasn’t enough the Indian government thought of something better.
India has finally joined the “Torrent downloading is illegal!” cult in style. Not only are torrent trackers and torrent search websites now banned to access with Indian ISPs, the highest Indian court has ruled that perpetrators found downloading torrents will be punished with either 3 years in jail, ₹300,000 (INR) fine or both.
Top 8 Alternatives for Extra Torrent
The government of India has begun a serious crackdown against internet piracy and torrent trackers with no exceptions for any infringement events. In accordance to court orders, with the help of ISPs the Indian government has banned thousands of URLs and websites over the last two years. In spite of these unyielding regulations taken by the government of India, there are 5 amazing alternatives for ExtraTorrent accessible in India.
1. isoHUNT
IsoHUNT once suffered the same fate as ThePirateBay and KickAssTorrents. After it was sold to a new owner the website has been back with all its torrents, a new community and a new torrent client. Torrents are also properly categorized and tagged for easy access, thus offers a much better user interface.
IsoHunt is the author’s recommended torrent indexing service.
2. RarBG
RarBG is one of the oldest torrent indexing services and has been around since ThePirateBay became legend. It has seen all ups and downs of the torrent world but still survives to this day. RarBG’s website is poorly managed and you may not find some torrents in their library although they are there (poor indexing probably), a Google search will do the job though.
3. 1337x
1337x is a community based torrent website that encourages online community sharing. This torrent website has a brilliant website design that makes it quite appealing and user-friendly hence you can easily find your favorite torrents. This website also offers a built-in chat feature and a very well-populated forum where users can interact, discuss torrents, and other relevant topics.
Although the seed/peer ratio on 1337x is not as effective as on ExtraTorrent,it is still one of the top torrent resources to go to. You will also find sections for most popular torrents in movies, TV shows, games, applications and other categories listed on the home page for easy access. Do remember to follow the rules of the 1337x community if you are a registered member.
4. Lime Torrents
LimeTorrents is yet another torrent website making waves in the domain of torrenting recently. According to a number of critics, it looks like the copy of LimeWire however it provides a simpler attractive user interface & website navigation. Torrents have proper statistics offering seeds, peers, health and download stats in real time.
Lime Torrents follows a similar interface to that of KickAssTorrents including a categorized search, quick browse menu and a very familiar trending torrents list on the homepage like KAT. The website also offers a dedicated trending page, a brilliant FAQ, latest torrent news, a search cloud feature and an exclusive section for torrent clients.
5. Monova
Monova offers a huge selection of movies, TV shows, games, apps, software and much more updated on daily basis. In addition to this,the website provides a fairly simple to use interface that makes torrent searches easy for users. Monova is although a great website to get torrents but we noticed few seeders for latest downloads.
6. Bit Snoop
BitSnoop is one of the best and most visited torrent libraries by Indian torrent fanatics. A simple website interface, categorized torrents, on-site FAQ, top 100 list, anda dedicated blog makes BitSnoop an instant favorite.You can explore different options like video, audio, games, software and other torrents through the instant search option plus use the cloud server.
BitSnoop offers abrilliant seed/peer ratio giving you high speed downloads from a huge variety of members of the website community. Another amazing aspect of the website is that all torrents are verified by admins, to avoid false positives.
7. EZTV
If you are a true TV shows fanatic then EZTV is the place for you. EZTV is a recent addition to torrenting websites offering a huge library of TV shows allowing you to discover favorite TV shows on a daily basis. The website not only provides high quality torrents with considerable seeds but also recommends using privacy tools to avoid infringement notices & legal action.
EZTV also offers members a categorized list of TV shows, dedicated forum, a well maintained FAQ and a huge community of torrent seeders & leechers. The availability of torrents is very good, with lots of seeds available for most shows plus torrents are always with great health.
8. Torrent Reactor
There is no comparable now that KickAssTorrents, ExtraTorrent and TPB are all banned. Torrent Reactor is an ideal place to find the latest and most trending torrents with good health. Torrent Reactor is a brilliant source to download movies and TV shows but beware of adware & spyware.
Now when Indian torrent enthusiasts’ access banned torrent websites they will be welcomed with this message:
“This URL has been blocked under the instructions of the Competent Government Authority or in compliance with the orders of a Court of competent jurisdiction. Viewing, downloading, exhibiting or duplicating an illicit copy of the contents under this URL is punishable as an offence under the laws of India, including but not limited to under Sections 63, 63-A, 65 and 65-A of the Copyright Act, 1957 which prescribe imprisonment for 3 years and also fine of up to Rs. 3,00,000/-. Any person aggrieved by any such blocking of this URL may contact at [email protected] who will, within 48 hours, provide you the details of relevant proceedings under which you can approach the relevant High Court or Authority for redressal of your grievance“.
Although these are some harsh words to chew on, there is still massive ambiguity over just how
- Torrent downloaders will be identified?
- The copyright infringement prosecution process will be organized?
- Who decides which torrents are categorized copyright infringement instances?
- Users who land on torrent websites by mistake will be treated?
- What laws govern the publishing of torrents from foreign websites and how to punish them?
Given we are talking about a country where gang rape crime is one of the leading offences across the country even affecting tourists and expatriates at instances, these are some very crucial questions every Indian torrent fan will want answered. While rape cases remain unpunished, torrent fans will suffer 3 years for downloading music & videos. Although we can kick the living daylights out of this ridiculous mission from a government so unpopular that the people who voted for it are against it now.
How to Securely Download Torrents in India
So we will let the Indian government start the cat and mouse game, however, we will not play.
Indian torrent users now have two very clear choices, download torrents with your local IP address or securely download torrents with VPN (Virtual Private Networks) specialized for torrents. A VPN accomplishes the most crucial tasks for a torrent user that include:
- Hiding the local IP address of the user, masking it with one from another country
- Hiding online activities and transferred data when using torrent clients
To learn more about Torrent VPN visit our dedicated blog on the subject.
In a Nutshell
So, with all of the above its official, we’re officially criminals my Indian friends, as Batman famously said to Alfred “We’re criminals Alfred, we’ve always been criminals, nothing’s changed …”, and we will continue to be criminals till governments and copyright trolls realize the internet is ours not theirs to control.
Remember to get your very own torrent VPN now that the news is official. Half the world’s population is a criminal according to the Indian government. Hope you enjoyed our blog, if you felt it helped let us know in the section below, also remember sharing is caring … so remember to share the article on social networks.
