India records 134 counts of free speech violation in four months: report

In terms of entertainment, movies like _Monkey Man _have not been certified to release in the country despite a worldwide release in April. The report mentioned that this could be because of

the overt political nature of its content.  Academia has not fared too well either, according to the report. There were 24 counts of free speech violations in the academic space, further

facilitated by “vigilante groups” online and offline. The report mentions an example of a school Principal in Mumbai being targeted for liking tweets in support of Palestine. Apart from

that, there were also attacks on students for screening documentaries like _Ram ke Naam_, which questioned the need to construct a temple in Ayodhya, during the temple’s consecration in

January.  The report added, “The screening of the documentary [_Ram ke Naam_]  was cited as one of the reasons for the two-year suspension and debarring of PhD scholar Ramadas KS, from all

campuses of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on April 18. The general secretary of the Progressive Students Forum (PSF), Ramadas was punished for ostensibly “anti national”

activities, such as participating in a protest march against the Central government’s education policies in January 2024.” TISS further issued a notice forbidding students from organising

protests, screening, online viewing of seminars, conduction workshops, meetings affiliated to politicians on the campus until the conclusion of elections.  READ: _TISS STUDENTS SAY DALIT PHD

SCHOLAR RAMADAS WAS TARGETED FOR HIS ANTI-BJP POLITICS_ News media was also subjected to censorship irrespective of language and the platform. For instance, the magazine Caravan was asked

to remove their article titled _Screams from the Army Post: The Indian Army’s torture and murder of civilians in a restive Jammu_’ by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB).

Hindi YouTube channels like Bolta Hindustani, National Dastak got emails from YouTube regarding a notice issued by the MIB for their channels to be blocked.  The government also wanted to

place regulatory mechanisms to oversee the dissemination of information, especially on the internet. On April 4, 2024, the MIB constituted a ten-member committee of bureaucrats to “delineate

the sphere of online information dissemination which needs to be brought under regulation, on the lines applicable for print and electronic media.”