Human Rights Defenders Data Information Knowledge Solidarity

New IT Rules breach law and gag free speech: 13 key news media firms move Madras HC https://indianexpress.com/article/india/new-it-rules-breach-law-and-gag-free-speech-13-key-news-media-firms-move-madras-hc-7372956/ June 24, 2021

submission that there is “sufficient basis for the petitioners…apprehension that coercive and arm-twisting action may be taken” undersuchprovisions and sought an order seeking restraint of operation of Rules 12, 14 and 16 Rule 16 of the Rules give the Secretary, I&B, emergency powers to block, as an interim measure, public access to any information or a part of it without giving the intermediary hosting the said information any opportunity of hearing. Provision 12 offers options for one or more self-regulatory body of publishers, while 14 says that I&B Ministry shall constitute an inter-departmental committee with representatives from other Ministries.

‘IT rules impose chilling effect on free speech’: TM Krishna moves Madras HC https://indianexpress.com/article/india/right-to-privacy-tm-krishna-it-rules-madras-high-court-centre-7352917/ June 10, 2021
The Madras High Court has given the government three weeks to file a response to the affidavit and the matter will be heard after four weeks.

the petition says the guidelines regarding content around belief, race or religion, will “thwart artists from raising difficult questions against existing aesthetic, gender and caste hierarchies in Karnatic music,” and thwart dissent against existing norms.

“A reading of the Code of Ethics contained in the Impugned Rules makes it impossible to glean what will be considered by the Union government as acceptable speech in the online world. In any event, it is submitted that determining what is acceptable isn’t the sole prerogative of the government,” the petition states.

'What Law have I violated" - Meet the Cartoonist who got a Twitter notice after Govt. complained https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFWZLJaWWII Manjul has critiqued nine Prime Ministers through his cartoons- spanning the years between Rajiv Gandhi and Narendra Modi.. This past week he got a notice from Twitter saying they had been informed by "law enforcement " that his cartoon ( which he shared online ) was in violation of the law. Twitter has not taken any action against him yet or removed his content but said it was merely informing him of the development. He tweeted : “This cartoonist is a sinner, an atheist, and doesn’t consider Modiji as a god.”

Editors Guild condemns UP FIRs against journalists  https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/withdraw-fir-against-journalists-for-sharing-ghaziabad-man-video-editors-guild/ar-AAL9l4D EG: it is quite evident that the police has been discriminatory in targeting those media organizations and journalists- when thousands had tweeted the video that have been critical of the government and its policies...” It mentioned that it is the “duty of journalists to report on the basis of sources and in case facts become contested later on, to report the emerging versions and facets”.

FIR Against Twitter And Journalists | Faye D’Souza https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuTV43Ye5Bc 

Is the job of the journalist to only report the police version of the story and not the version of the victim?

An FIR has been filed in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district against several journalists, social media platform Twitter and Congress leaders for "provoking communal sentiments" after an elderly Muslim man was allegedly assaulted on June 5.

The FIR has been filed against journalists Rana Ayyub, Saba Naqvi and Mohammed Zubair along with online news platform ‘The Wire’ and Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Shama Mohamed and Maskoor Usmani. They have been accused of tweeting without "verifying facts" and "giving a communal colour" to the incident.

We discuss the above with the following guests:

1. Radhika Ramaseshan, Senior Journalist  https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=573 https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=803  divergent reports  https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=1031
2. Yashovardhan Azad, Former IPS Officer https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=1037  https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=1275

https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=1790 troll army police serve the govt.  No. highly But polie reforms lacking eg UAPA cases.. https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=2058

3. Pratik Sinha, Co-Founder, Alt News https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=246 No inacccuracy,  but it was safe.. https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=397  discrimination https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=573

https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=1275 language.. timeline incident june 5th,, june 14th, zuber tweet,, https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=1514

ref: Uttar Pradesh: A man thrashed for not chanting Jai Shri Ram in Ghaziabad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfhA432VUw0 Jun 14, 2021  In the last few years, such incidents have come to the fore from many states of the country where a person who does not chant Jai Shri Ram is beaten up. A similar incident has come to light where a Muslim man was thrashed on June 05 in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Some people asked this person to chant Jai Shri Ram, and this Muslim man was beaten up for not raising the slogan. In fact, the accused also called him a Pakistani spy after kidnaping this person. this elderly man was brutally assaulted by locals in Loni area of Ghaziabad.

Siddhiqi Kapan.. mpther passed away.. https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=2069  https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=2196

 https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=2208 Threat of media advisor..  https://youtu.be/kuTV43Ye5Bc?t=2337

Twitter vs Modi Govt | Ravi Shankar Prasad Twitter Ban | Dhruv Rathee Jun 26, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTQbBrwS0vg

Will Facebook, Twitter, Instagram be banned in India? | OTT Rules 2021 | Explained by Dhruv Rathee  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7Fv3vQZvNw&t=0s

New govt rules for OTT content, platforms such as Google, Twitter, digital media: meaning & concerns Mar 1, 2021 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU2Rr4j9We0