after the release of A BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat massacre, which questions the actions taken by the then Gujarat government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, can only be termed as another rendition of the ‘Streisand effect’. post release Instructions on how to disable access to the first episode on websites Using emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021 and Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) also blocked over 50 tweets with a link to the documentary. but it only resulted Citizens are gaining access through screening and sharing Information suppression on smartphones — similar to how raising more awareness has unintended consequences, or the ‘Streisand effect’. other functions like police 13 students have been detained at Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi, on the pretext that they were about to be screened, was an exaggeration and tantamount to abuse of power. It goes without saying that the government should not arbitrarily prevent the dissemination of media content just because it is critical of the regime. Its justification for using emergency powers to block access to the documentary, as propaganda and a colonial mindset, makes no sense if seen in the continuity of coverage of the pogrom and its aftermath. In any case, propaganda must be countered by propaganda, not censorship.
The events that led to the devastation, the appalling crimes, the brutality of the then regime and the lack of adequate recourse to law and order measures, have all been well recorded and commented upon in the Indian press. BBC documentary is just another media investigation In a part of India’s history that changed the course of politics not only in Gujarat but elsewhere as well. The online blocking of the first episode using emergency powers cannot be justified on the grounds provided by the MIB that it is “propaganda”, and an assertion of executive power rather than merely addressing it as a free speech issue Reflects the recent trend of using IT rules to , IT rules were amended in February 2021 to allow the increase Government control over online news publications – Actions that are now being heard in the courts. Recent orders of the High Court have also taken note of the need to protect free speech and put a stop to the government’s moves to control freedom of expression on digital platforms. In its actions, a clear case can be made that the central government is more eager to block critical content than use IT regulations to control hate speech and misinformation – the dominant feature of the digital media ecosystem today. Correct curse.