India has been suppressing free speech since Modi was elected.
Human rights activists have called on India to reform or repeal laws that threaten free expression in the world’s largest democracy and muzzle charities such as environmental group Greenpeace.
Some laws are not only silencing marginal voices but are also fuelling graft, a report by PEN International, a London-based group of writers promoting freedom of speech, and the International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto said.
Win-win – shut down weirdos and make sure the money keeps flowing.
Other laws in India such as those on blasphemy, obscenity and sedition have allowed groups or individuals to silence one another, said the report.
For example, Aseem Trivedi, a prominent anti-corruption campaigner, was arrested in Mumbai in 2012 under sedition laws after a complaint was lodged against him for publishing a series of cartoons that satirised India’s national symbols.
Remember the attack on Wendy Doniger’s book? India doesn’t have a great record on this.