Days after India blocked a BBC documentary that examines Prime Minister Narendra Modi's role during 2002 anti-Muslim riots and banned people from sharing it online, authorities are scrambling to halt screenings of the program at colleges and universities and restrict clips of it on social media, a move that has been decried by critics as an assault on press freedom.
Tensions escalated in the capital, New Delhi, on Wednesday at Jamia Millia University, where a student group said it planned to screen the banned documentary, prompting dozens of police equipped with tear gas and riot gear to gather outside campus gates.
The two-part documentary "India: The Modi Question" has not been broadcast in India by the BBC, but India's federal government blocked it over the weekend and banned people from sharing clips on social media, citing emergency powers under its information technology laws. Twitter and YouTube complied with the request and removed many links to the documentary.
The documentary includes the testimony of then-British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who says the British investigation found that the violence by Hindu nationalists aimed to "purge Muslims from Hindu areas" and that it had all the "hallmarks of an ethnic cleansing." "We offered the Indian Government a right to reply to the matters raised in the series -- it declined to respond," the statement said.
"You can ban, you can suppress the press, you can control the institutions … but the truth is the truth. It has a nasty habit of coming out," Rahul Gandhi, a leader of the opposition Congress party, told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Police in India detain students gathered to watch BBC documentary on PM Narendra ModiIndia has dismissed the recent BBC documentary as propaganda and blocked its streaming and sharing on social media
Read more »
A taste of IndiaFor an authentic culinary experience head to Panaji in Goa
Read more »
Researchers from Montreal and India detect radio signal from galaxy 8.8 billion light years awayResearchers from Montreal and India have detected a radio signal from a galaxy that's nearly nine billion light years away
Read more »
Ex-B.C. mayor Basran to be defended in sex assault case by lawyer from Air India bombing case - Terrace StandardEx-B.C. mayor Basran to be defended in sex assault case by lawyer from Air India bombing case
Read more »
Immigration requirements are driving new doctors away from N.S., says medical resident | CBC NewsA family medicine resident from India says the requirement for medical graduates to become permanent residents before beginning a residency in the province is a barrier for many aspiring doctors.
Read more »