Hinduunity.org gunned down in police encounter!

www.hinduunity.org, a website that proclaims that it promotes and supports the "ideals of Bajrang Dal, VHP and Youth Wing Bharat", has been blocked by the biggest ISP in India, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited. It has also been blocked by smaller ISPs like Hathway and HCL Infinet. This gagging has taken place on the basis of a request from the office of Mumbai Police Commissioner.

The site has been blocked on the basis of a request from the Mumbai police commissioner's office in a letter sent out to ISPs on April 28.

Sources at the Mumbai police commissioner's office said the directive was issued because the web site published inflammatory material against Islam. Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Dr Satyapal Singh, a decorated officer of the Indian Police Service, authorised the note.

While the big daddy VSNL (with around 800,000 subscribers) has acted promptly in response to the request, SIFY (reportedly with 700,000 subscribers) has refused to heed the request which, it says, has not come through the right channels.

"Only CERT has the right to issue such an order," said Sify spokesman David Appasamy. "In case they do, we have no option but to comply. When we got the request from the police commissioner's office, we spoke to them and explained that we could block the site only if the order came from CERT."

These things apart, this gagging order raises serious issues of restriction of freedom of expression on the Net. And coming, as it does immediately after a 'secular' government has taken oath, it raises fears of a re-emergence of an era of vote-bank politics and minority-appeasement!!

I know that I am just conjecturing at this moment, but if such a thing happens, the ball that was in the Congress court after the public display of 'inner voices', will fall right back into the BJP's court!

[link to the article is in the subject of the post]