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How The New Censors Muzzle A Million People!
   https://freespeechcollective.in/how-the-new-censors-muzzle-a-million-people/ November 27, 2023  NewsClick, a relatively small outfit, was somehow perceived to be a ‘problem’. Perhaps the problem was not so much NewsClick as the range of movements it covers. Just prior to the government’s unwelcome attention, NewsClick had covered the farmers’ movement quite thoroughly, coverage that drew significant viewership, and not just in India...

The Indian people are quite often mistaken to be passive. They do not rise up in revolt periodically against the terrible burden of oppression that they carry; this is a criticism commonly levelled against them. Yet, this mass of ‘passive’ people routed Mrs Gandhi in 1977 and asserted the primacy of Indian democracy...

Of course, the government and its cohorts are anxious to control the large number of individuals using social media; to do this, they have to come up with measures different from what sufficed during the earlier Emergency.

In other words, a technological change has taken place which makes the task of muzzling the press rather different from what it used to be. If you want to muzzle a million or more people, you cannot use the Emergency instrument, which was direct censorship...from “Keeping Up the Good Fight: From the Emergency to the Present Day” 

What are the new censors — official and unofficial —to do? They make an example of a few to create a chilling effect.

Kapil Sibal Writes : We Are Witnessing Undeclared Emergency & Courts Are Silent Kapil Sibal, Senior Advocate 27 Nov 2023 https://www.livelaw.in/articles/kapil-sibal-writes-we-are-witnessing-undeclared-emergency-courts-are-silent-243104  & https://www.newindianexpress.com/opinions/2023/nov/26/courts-are-on-trial-in-undeclared-emergency-2636427.amp

We are watching in disbelief the way institutional independence is being jeopardised. Citizens who choose to oppose policies and diktats of this government are being targeted. ‘Jail not bail’ seems to have become the norm in certain ‘sensitive’ cases where individuals are critical of the government and its policies. They include journalists, students, academics and those working at the grassroots and espousing the cause of the underprivileged and the marginalised.

it is of great concern that basic principles of law are jettisoned to deny people liberty. How does a judge justify admitting evidence statements made to a police officer and using these to convict the accused? Students are languishing in jail under draconian provisions of law merely because they chose to stand up and be counted, opposing the government and its policies. Journalists and students are being prosecuted under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act through investigating processes which are clearly highly suspect. Provisions of the Gangsters Act are misused to exploit the victims.

Kapil Sibal ने लिखा लेखा, BJP और SC से भी पूछ लिए सवाल, जानें बड़ी बातें   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElM89ks9jOA

The 3rd of October 2023: the day that changed the lives of more than 80 citizens of India, including mine https://www.adaniwatch.org/the_3rd_of_october_2023_the_day_that_changed_the_lives_of_more_than_80_citizens_of_india_including_mine Paranjoy Guha Thakurta Nov 28, 2023

Among the articles and videos on Adani published by NewsClick are one on how the changes in shipping policies helped the group, another on how rules were tweaked to enable it to become the biggest private operator of airports in India, and yet another on how a judge of the Supreme Court had given a series of rulings in favour of the conglomerate before he retired. For the last-mentioned article in the series of three articles, a ‘gag’ order was issued against this writer, his co-author, and representatives of the portal. Coincidentally, the day the order was issued I had interviewed Australian activist Ben Pennings, who had won a legal battle against Adani in Australia – read Geoff Law’s article on him here...

Among the persons who received unexpected visitors that morning, were not just popular anchors on NewsClick’s YouTube channel, such as Abhisar Sharma, Urmilesh (he uses one name), Bhasha Singh, Aunindyo Chakravarty and Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay (who has written several books, including an unauthorised biography of Prime Minister Narendra Modi).

One of the worst aspects of the police action was that at least 300 personal electronic devices (cellular phones, laptops, hard drives and pen drives) and other belongings (such as passports and property documents) of more than 80 individuals were seized and have remained in the custody of the Special Cell since 3 October. This is a way of depriving journalists of their livelihood. The Supreme Court has asked the Indian government to frame a set of guidelines on seizure of personal electronic devices by the first week of December.

‘It is dangerous all powers are with the agencies