India urged to overhaul legislation guaranteeing the right to information
Indian authorities are currently disconnecting the Internet on average 10 times per month, each time depriving an average of several hundred thousand people of all online information. This was the case on 5 July in the Kashmiri district of Shopian, in India’s far north where the Internet was disconnected as a preventive measure after a gunfight between separatist militants and paramilitaries.
According to the Software Freedom Law Centre, this was the 61st time that the Internet was cut in India since the beginning of 2019 and the 45th time in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the use of what they called a ‘crude form of censorship’ and calls on the authorities to overhaul legislation to guarantee the universal right to online news and information.
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