NEW DELHI (AP) – When Vinod K. Jose, executive editor of The Caravan, India’s leading investigative magazine, took to Twitter on Monday, he was shocked when he blocked the magazine’s account.
Jose was already involved in a case of rioting and other charges against him, the magazine owners and a freelance journalist. At the heart of the allegations is the magazine’s coverage of the ongoing peasant protests that have gripped India for more than two months.
While farmers on the outskirts of the capital are camping and protesting against new agricultural laws that they say will destroy their earnings, the mainstream and social media have come under unprecedented attacks from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party. Critics say it has used the massive demonstrations to increase freedom of speech, detain journalists and freeze Twitter accounts.
“This is a very exciting development for the press,” said Apar Gupta, executive director of the Internet Freedom Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group.
Jose shares a screenshot of the blocked account from his personal handle. Soon indignation arose. Activists, journalists and media watchdogs teased Twitter, saying it had acted on a ‘valid legal request’ issued by an Indian authority.
Hundreds of Indian Twitter accounts, including those of news sites, activists and a farmers’ union, were suspended on Monday. Some, including The Caravan’s, have since been restored.
Offline, at least nine journalists have been charged in the past few weeks for discussing the protests.
The trigger for the crackdown was the death of a protester, Navneet Singh, when the largely peaceful rallies turned violent on January 26 after a group of farmers descended from an agreed protest route and the 17th-century Red Fort in New Delhi stormed it. Hundreds of police and farmers were injured in clashes.
Boer leaders condemn the violence, but refuse to stop the protest.
According to authorities, no shots were fired and that Singh died because his tractor overturned. His family claimed he was fatally shot. Their account has been published by several stores, including The Caravan.
Ministers in Modi’s government have accused journalists and a leading member of parliament of the opposition of inciting hatred and endangering the country’s integrity through inaccurate reporting and tweets. This led to the filing of complaints from colonial colonies, which had a maximum imprisonment of five years.
The law, like its equivalent in other former British colonies, is considered draconian and was repealed in 2010 in the United Kingdom.
Prosecutions on sedition charges are rare, but their use to silence journalists, critics and dissidents in India is not new and previous governments have used them. However, official figures show that the Modi government used the law more than any other – by almost 30%. It has also repeatedly rejected claims to revoke it.
Calls and messages to comment from four BJP spokespersons went unanswered. Calls to the party’s media office were also unsuccessful.
Media dogs and rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have condemned the government’s actions as censorship. The Editors Guild of India has said the cases against journalists are an attempt to intimidate, harass, beat and stifle the media. ‘
Daniel Bastard, head of Reporters Without Borders’ Asia-Pacific bureau, said the government was trying to impose its own story.
Critics say India is becoming intolerant of Modi. Its position on the World Press Freedom Index has declined annually and in 2020 it ranked 142nd out of 180 places.
Reporters Without Borders noted that “police violence against journalists” and an increasing “pressure on the media to show the line of the Hindu nationalist government” as a major reason for the demotion.
But also Twitter’s response to the suspension of accounts has set a terrible precedent for free speech and press, Jose said.
“We want Twitter to be neutral as opposed to being vulnerable to the pressure of power,” he said.
The Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in its notice to Twitter on Monday that it was ordering the company to take down bills that used fire extinguishers during the January 26 violence. But Jose said The Caravan never used such hashtags and that Twitter did not notify the magazine of it before suspending its account.
The ministry did not respond to calls and emails, but on Wednesday issued a statement again accusing Twitter of “unilaterally” restoring the accounts “despite orders to withhold it.”
It is said that the platform must comply with the requirements of the authorities and that it may face criminal charges for failing to comply with government orders. “
Twitter declined to comment.
Gupta of the Internet Freedom Foundation said the IT law calling on the government to freeze Twitter accounts has the power to urge online intermediaries and internet service providers to block certain content without giving any explanation.
“In the past, governments have blocked individual journalistic accounts, but blocking an entire publication’s account is an increase,” Gupta said.
The government’s response to agricultural protests has gone beyond India’s borders.
India’s foreign ministry on Wednesday condemned “established interest groups trying to implement their agenda” after pop star Rihanna and teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted in support of the protests.
Entertainers in India were also not spared.
On January 1, Muslim comedian Munawar Faruqui was arrested for allegedly insulting Hindu sentiments when he performed in Indore, a city in the state-run Madhya Pradesh state of Modi.
In India, the intentional prejudice of religious sentiments is punishable. But Faruqui was tentatively arrested before his actions even began.
“Before he could even make the joke, before he could really start the show, the police came and dragged him away,” said Anshuman Shrivastava, Faruqui’s lawyer.
The program was canceled and police have since admitted they have no evidence against the cartoon. He was granted temporary bail by the high court on Friday, after three lower courts refused to do so.
The Associated Press reached out to five prominent comedians who did not want to speak on record but said they were increasingly afraid to make jokes against the government and the Hindu religion.
“What we are currently witnessing is a blatant violation of freedom of speech in India, which has legitimized the government in public view,” said Sanjay Rajoura, a leading Indian satirist. “The government came after Muslims for the first time because they are a less visible minority. But now it comes down to everyone who has an informed, intelligent expression. ”
The anger of Hindu nationalist groups aligned with Modi’s party has also caught streaming platforms off guard. Many of their performances boycotted and faced lawsuits. Recently, the Supreme Court issued a notice to Amazon Prime about the show “Mirzapur” after a petition alleges that it harms cultural sentiments.
Such incidents did not inspire much confidence in the courts, Jose of The Caravan said. He and the owners are still struggling with criminal charges.
“I hope the courts see the world watching the largest democracy’s judiciary defend personal freedoms,” Jose said.