Blocking of the website of KashmirWalla & de-activation of social media accounts | EGI Statement

The Editors Guild of India

PRESS STATEMENT

August 24, 2023

The Editors Guild of India is disturbed by the blocking of the website as well as de-activation of social media accounts of the Srinagar-based news website, the KashmirWalla.

As per the statement released by the KashmirWalla on August 20, 2023, the service providers [of their website], informed them that the website has been, “blocked in India by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under the IT Act, 2000”. Further, their Facebook account has also been de-activated, as well as the Twitter account, “in response to a legal demand.”

It must be noted that the founder-editor of KashmirWalla, Fahad Shah, has been under arrest since February 2022 and there are multiple FIRs against him, including under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The police have summoned and detained Shah multiple times over the years for his writing.

The Guild is disturbed by the censorship measures undertaken by MeitY, without following due processes and against principles of natural justice. In the judgment of Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, the Supreme Court of India had expressly laid down that all reasonable efforts must be made to identify and notify the people whose information is sought to be blocked before access is restricted, as well as a right to appeal.

The Guild urges the Ministry to release the orders of suspension in the public domain, and to follow due processes laid down by the Supreme Court.

Regards,

Seema Mustafa, President

Anant Nath, General Secretary

Shriram Pawar, Treasurer