The government’s recent actions in notifying the Intermediary Guidelines for the internet with minimal public debate have resulted in the creation of a legal system that raises as many problems as it solves. The regulations as presently notified are arguably unconstitutional, arbitrary and vague and could pose a serious problem to the business of various intermediaries in the country (not to mention hampering internet penetration in the country) and also...

-The Indian Express   As they were produced before the media following their surrender before the police at Kanker on Monday evening, top Naxals for the first time admitted publicly what has been an unconfirmed rumour in Bastar — the insurgents are forced to undergo vasectomy by their leaders, mostly based in Andhra Pradesh. All the four men who surrendered on Monday had undergone the operation. Three women Naxals also surrendered on Monday. “This...

Let down by governments that curb free speech, we have become our own hecklers In free speech jurisprudence, there is a concept called a “heckler’s veto”. It means the ability — but not the right — of a private actor, the heckler, to be loud and obnoxious enough to obscure the free speech of others. By pattern, a heckler is someone who is unable to defend his argument by legitimate use...

-PTI The Symbiosis College in Pune has deferred a seminar on Kashmir after objections by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and an organisation representing displaced Kashmiri Pandits. Representatives of ABVP, the student wing of BJP, and Panun Kashmir, who met the college authorities on Monday, said the proposed screening of a documentary, "Jashn-e-Azadi", at the seminar, "Voices of Kashmir", projected the militants in the Valley as "heroes" and was critical of...

Indian law promotes arbitrary removal and blocking of webSITes, webSITe content, and online services —making it much easier than getting offline printed speech removed Without getting into questions of what should and should not be unlawful speech, let's take a look at how Indian law promotes arbitrary removal and blocking of webSITes, webSITe content, and online services, and how it makes it much easier than getting offline printed speech removed. --Pranesh Prakash...