Fundamental Rights
Fundamental Rights
Bombay High Court Refuses To Quash FIR Against Kashmiri Professor Booked For WhatsApp Status Calling Abrogation Of Article 370 "Black Day For J&K" https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/all-high-courts/bombay-high-court-professor-abrogation-article-370-black-day-jammu-kashmir-whatsapp-status-fir-dissent-criticism-analysis-democracy-226339
When I look at the court observation that .. “In our view, this message has the tendency to play with emotions of different groups of people in India as there are strong feelings of contrasting nature about status of Jammu and Kashmir in India and, therefore, one has to tread cautiously in such a field, lest the emotions may reach up to sucha level as to bring about consequences or reasonable possibility of consequences visiting as envisaged in Section 153-A of IPC,” the court added.
Comments of WhatsApp: .. It looks like there is a conservative Collective consciousness in the benches, that is uncomfortable with liberal ideas, which seems to agree that "khatre mein hain" logic...
the observation “So, if any criticism is to be made, it must be upon evaluation of all pros and cons of the situation and backed by reason,” means that you cannot have any criticism on "strong feelings of contrasting nature" on any short messaging app, like WA, Instagram, Twitter.. "evaluation of all pros and con" and back up of "reason" should be "seen" and not heard in the courts!
Use of the various seminar halls now depends on the pleasure of the university authorities. The spaces are usually given only for events with “nationalistic” themes. For members of the university community and organisations already marked for their scepticism towards India’s new brand of hyper-nationalism, there is no question of finding a place to discuss their ideas.
by Apoorvanand
31/03/2023
HC nod to hold seminar on ‘fascism’ after Delhi Police deny permission https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/hc-nod-to-hold-seminar-on-fascism-after-delhi-police-deny-permission/ The plea sought for quashing of a March 9 order issued by SHO police station IP Estate "unilaterally denying the permission to the Petitioners for organizing a private Programme which is a National Seminar to be conducted through a platform called ‘Bharat Bachao’ mere 36 hours (2 days) before the event".
Keeping in view the “apprehension of mishappening” in the mind of the authorities the HC directed, that the petitioners will compile a list of invitees to the two day seminar along with details of their residence, identity cards and submit the same to SHO IP Estate by 9pm Friday.
Comment: Seeking police permission for indoor, by invitation hall meetings is a bad precedent. It diminishes private space and the freedom of association.
Delhi High Court Allows Holding Of Seminar On Fascism, Asks Organizers To Give Invitees’ Details To Police Nupur Thapliyal 11 Mar 2023 https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/delhi-high-court-holding-bharat-bachao-seminar-fascism-parties-peaceful-atmosphere-223506 The counsel appearing for the Delhi police submitted that the anxiety of the police authorities would be satisfied if certain information is provided
Seminar on Fascism: The World's Experience and its Indian Characteristics https://mlupdate.cpiml.net/2023/01/25/seminar-on-fascism-the-worlds-experience-and-its-indian-characteristics Com Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary of CPIML The general public votes for basic needs like employment, housing, education and health, but the Sangh-BJP are instead misusing the power to push their corporate-oriented communal agenda. Today, communal hate mongers, murderers, rioters and corrupt people who embezzle trillions of government money are roaming free, but the social and political activists who raise their voice and struggle for the rights of Dalits, labourers, youth, adivasis and minorities are becoming victims of state persecution, lies and fake propaganda.
:The Desh Bhagat Yadgar Hall Committee today organised a seminar on growing jingoistic nationalism that has been causing adverse affects to the aura of bonhomie in the country https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/jalandhar/seminar-on-growing-fascism-held-214490 Dr Apurvanand, Head of Hindi Department, Delhi University, said, "The rights of people, including freedom of religion, freedom of speech and expression, and democratic values are being suppressed terribly by the jingoistic nationalism in the country. The students are being charged with the sedition cases and basic rights of the people are being oppressed by the fascist ideologue."
BBC के बाद NEW YORK TIMES का मोदी पर धमाका, Anurag Thankur Vs NYT Controversy on Kashmir Reporting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DusME3-O8s0
Modi’s Final Assault on India’s Press Freedom Has Begun https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/opinion/india-kashmir-modi-media-censorship.html March 8, 2023 By Anuradha Bhasin Since he took power in 2014, Mr. Modi has systematically debased India’s democratic ideals, bending courts and other government machinery to his will.
The media stands as one of the last remaining institutions capable of preventing India’s descent into authoritarianism. But if Mr. Modi succeeds in introducing the Kashmir model of information control to the rest of the country, it won’t be just press freedom that is at risk, but Indian democracy itself.
References in this article: ‘Vendetta’: Kashmir newspaper’s office sealed by India officials https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2020/10/20/vendetta-kashmir-newspapers-office-sealed-by-india-officials ‘
Snoop List Has 40 Indian Journalists, Forensic Tests Confirm Presence of Pegasus Spyware on Some https://thewire.in/media/pegasus-project-spyware-indian-journalists
India has highest number of journalists murdered for their work: CPJ report https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/101221/india-has-highest-number-of-journalists-murdered-for-their-work-cpj-r.html
Under Modi, India’s Press Is Not So Free Anymore https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/world/asia/modi-india-press-media.html India’s government has pressured advertisers
How the Centre’s planned IT rule changes will empower it to censor unfavourable news https://scroll.in/article/1042179/how-the-centres-planned-it-rule-changes-will-empower-it-to-censor-unfavourable-news draft rules that would require intermediaries such as Twitter and Facebook to remove any post that is tagged as “fake news” by the Union government’s information dissemination wing, the Press Information Bureau. The proposed changes “seem to give the government a carte blanche to determine what is fake or not with determination to its own work”, the Editors Guild of India said
The Jammu and Kashmir government has given itself unbridled powers to take action against journalists and media houses over “fake reports,” https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/world/asia/india-pakistan-kashmir-jammu.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/26/world/asia/kashmir-internet-shutdown-india.html
Panopticon of fear and rumours: Inside Kashmir’s media centre during lockdown https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/02/05/a-panopticon-of-fear-and-rumours-inside-kashmirs-media-centre-during-lockdown The only place to go online during the valley’s communications blackout, the government’s media centre was where journalists and their journalism were cut down to size.
ByRayan Naqash05 Feb, 2020
https://lawbeat.in/amp/top-stories/top-court-issues-notice-plea-filed-against-orders-restricting-internet-speed-2g-jammu-kashmir The plea filed by Private Schools Association J&K,says "given the grave impact that internet slowdowns have on the future of students and other ordinary citizens in the region, terrorism cannot become a ground to indefinitely restrict the internet especially without a formal state of emergency being declared, and without considering the suitability and necessity of existing internet restrictions when compared to less restrictive alternatives."
Jammu and Kashmir Media Policy 2020: A Veil Covering Freedoms https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/jammu-and-kashmir-media-policy-2020-a-veil-covering-freedoms/ The policy states that – “DIPR shall examine the content of the print, electronic and other forms of media for fake news, plagiarism and unethical or anti-national activities. Any individual or group indulging in fake news, unethical or anti-national activities or in plagiarism shall be deempanelled besides being proceeded against under law.”
‘Remnant of Colonial-Era Censorship': J&K Parties Decry New Media Policy https://thewire.in/media/jks-new-media-policy-threatens-legal-action-against-fake-news-stopping-of-govt-ads The Jammu and Kashmir government has given itself unbridled powers to take action against journalists and media houses over “fake reports,”
Crackdown on Journalists Is the New Normal in Kashmir https://thewire.in/media/summoned-raided-censored-crackdown-on-journalists-is-the-new-normal-in-kashmir
In two years, more than 40 journalists in Kashmir have either been called for a background check, summoned or raided; they are being forced to present themselves to explain their stories, social media conduct and other societal behaviour.
https://freepresskashmir.news/2023/02/04/kashmiri-journalist-fahad-shah-completes-one-year-in-jail/ three journalists from Kashmir Fahad Shah, Asif Sultan and Sajad Gul are among five journalists of India who are currently facing detention under various sections of the law, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on December 8, 2022.Journalists, Siddique Kappan of Kerala and Manan Dar of Kashmir, who were also mentioned in CPJ report, were released on bail recently
https://cpj.org/2022/01/two-journalists-detained-in-jammu-and-kashmir-chhattisgarh/
https://institute.aljazeera.net/en/ajr/article/1974
https://globalfreedomofexpression.columbia.edu/cases/bhasin-v-union-of-india/
https://countercurrents.org/2020/10/kashmir-times-office-sealed-in-srinagar/
https://www.meity.gov.in/writereaddata/files/Revised-IT-Rules-2021-proposed-amended.pdf
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/14/world/asia/india-bbc-tax-raid.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/world/asia/india-democracy.html
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/modi-is-abusing-govt-machinery/articleshow/56881176.cms
India tops in internet shutdowns globally for the fifth consecutive year: Report
01 March,2023
With more than 800 million internet users, India has the second-largest digital population in the world, after China. The internet connects the country’s remote rural areas with cities
https://www.newsclick.in/india-tops-internet-shutdown-globally-5th-consecutive-year Out of 187 shutdowns across 35 countries last year, 84 were ordered in India, including 49 in J&K, according to Internet advocacy watchdog Access Now.
Full report https://www.accessnow.org/cms/assets/uploads/2023/02/KeepItOn-2022-Report.pdf
Although Access Now counted fewer than 100 shutdowns in India for the first time since 2017, it is “not convinced” that the government has “embarked on the path towards positive sustained change regarding digital rights”.
“Legal challenges against shutdowns, fewer mass protests in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sustained and increasing crackdown on dissent may have increased administrative friction or reduced the incentives for authorities to impose shutdowns,” the report adds.
The group also feels all disruptions in India in 2022 weren’t recorded due to the government’s “persistent failure to publicly release shutdown orders in violation of the Supreme Court’s judgment” and the “technical challenges in monitoring, tracking, and recording shutdowns—in particular in communities where shutdowns are an emerging issue”.
To invoke Section 153A of the IPC, the statements must be "judged on the basis of what reasonable and strong-minded persons will think" and not on the basis of the "views of hypersensitive persons who smell danger in every hostile point of view".
Ruling in favour of a Pune-based Congress worker who staged a protest outside Maharashtra’s higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil’s residence, the Bombay high court on Monday observed that the right to express one’s views is a protected and cherished right in India’s democracy and cannot be taken away merely by accusing a person of threatening harmony.
01/03/2023
'Tis the Season of Literary Events – And Censorship (thewire.in)
Just last week, on February 24, veteran Hindi writer Ashok Vajpeyi said in a social media post that he had been invited to a poetry event titled ‘Arth – The Culture Fest’ in Delhi that weekend, where he had to recite his poems in a session called ‘Kavita Sandhya’. But, Vajpeyi said, the organisers forbade him from reading poems that were political in nature or critical of the government. He refused to attend the event, saying, “This kind of censor[ship] is unacceptable.”
Early in February, as the Vidarbha Sahitya Sammelan was being organised in Uttar Pradesh’s Nagpur, journalist and author Ashutosh Bhardwaj had said in a tweet that the sponsors were allegedly “warned” by some local groups against some of the authors invited to the conference. The organisers eventually asked four of them – Aakar Patel, Josy Joseph, Shruti Ganapatey and Shivam Shankar Singh – to withdraw.
01/03/2023
https://youtu.be/RVgKUaPmp-E?t=480
Neha Singh Rathore Bhojpuri song that has raised issues .. Interview with Ajit Anjum : UP Mein Ka Ba पर UP Police का नोटिस क्यों ?
A new phase of censorship creep in India N. RAM Feb 03, 2023 https://frontline.thehindu.com/columns/guest-column-media-n-ram-a-new-phase-of-censorship-creep-in-india-it-rules-2021-ban-bbc-documentary/article66463846.ece
Under the proposed amendment to the IT Rules 2021, there will be a new category of takedown of social media content and news media content. The target will be any information “identified as fake or false” by the new enforcers—“the fact check unit at the Press Information Bureau of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting or other agency authorised by the Central Government for fact checking, or, in respect of any business of the Central Government, by its department in which such business is transacted under the rules of business made under clause (3) of article 77 of the Constitution.”
A new low for media freedom in India N. RAM Published : Nov 14, 2022 https://frontline.thehindu.com/columns/a-new-low-for-media-freedom-in-india/article66124487.ece The military-style “search and seize” raid conducted on October 31, 2022 by the Crime Branch of the Delhi police at the offices of The Wire and the homes of its three founding editors, Siddharth Varadarajan, M.K.Venu, and Sidharth Bhatia, deputy editor Jahnavi Sen, and product-and-business head Mithun Kidambi marks a new low for media freedom in India.
The police seized various devices and the hard disks of two computers used by the accounts staff under cover of investigating a criminal case. This case is based on a complaint made by Amit Malviya, a BJP leader who heads the ruling party’s national Information Technology department, that the three Meta stories published earlier in October by The Wire were a conspiracy to harm his reputation through forgery. The Wire placed on record its demand for the hash value—a unique numerical value used to ensure the integrity of a device and its data—of the mobile phones, iPads, computers, and hard disks seized and for cloned copies of the devices and hard disks seized to be kept at a neutral place. But this reasonable and lawful demand was simply ignored.
Subcategories
Right to Life Article Count: 0
Right to Privacy Article Count: 12
Free Speech Article Count: 61
Ban on films, documentaries by Government e.g documentary on PM by BBC. Debate on censorship, opinion, statements by media people, leaders, screening of film on Modi at universities etc.