Freedom of speech and expression is preserved in India’s constitution, but the government reserves the right to impose limits to protect sovereignty and integrity of India, state security, foreign relations, public order, decency or morality; or in relation to contempt of court, defamation, or incitement to an offence. Each form of media is governed by respective governmental bodies.

In late 2000, the IT Act was enacted by the Indian Parliament. The act seeks to provide a legal framework to regulate the Internet use and commerce. With this act, it is a criminal offence to post any obscene information electronically. It grants the police the authority to conduct search parties without a warrant and arrest the perpetrators.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) was subsequently established under the IT Act to allow filtering. This expanded the scope of the Act, barring the publication of obscene content to include the filtering of websites. CERT-IN has the authority to act on complaints and issue blocking instructions to the Department of Telecommunications. For CERT-IN to act, the complaint has to be issued by specified individuals or institutions, such as high-ranking governmental officials, members of the police, governmental bodies and any others that are approved by the government. The blocking system devised under the Act does not provide for any appeals – except in court, and is permanent. CERT-IN is allowed to block specific sites without prior communication with the public.

Police commissioners are also empowered to exercise the powers of executive magistrates in times of emergencies, and block websites containing sensitive material that poses a threat to national security under. Filtering can also be authorized through licensing requirements. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) wanting licences to provide Internet services with the Department of Telecommunications are required to ban websites and/or subscribers as identified by the Telecom Authority occasionally in the interest of national security. ISPs are also expected to prevent the broadcasting of obscene objectionable content.




Governmental efforts at blocking have not always been particularly effective, as blocked content is very quickly migrated to alternative websites and savvy users quickly find ways to bypass these restrictions. The Indian government has continually been criticized for a poor understanding of the technical practicality of internet censorship and a slipshod selection process of banning websites. The amended IT Act that removes responsibility of third parties for third-party content could signal the start of stronger governmental control over the internet landscape in the near future.

Source: http://opennet.net/research/profiles/india

Instances of Internet Censorship in India

1. Yahoo Groups ban, September 2003
The first recorded incident of internet censorship by the Indian government occurred on 23rd September 2003. The incident surrounded Kynhun, a Yahoo group that had links with the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council, a minor separatist group.

The order to ban the site was forwarded to the Indian ISPs by the Department of Telecommunications. Technical difficulties by the ISPs caused blocks on all Yahoo groups for about 2 weeks.

2. Internet Censorship of July 2006
In June 2006, a total of 17 websites were blocked by Internet Service Providers acting on official government orders. Some of these sites included sites from Blogspot, a popular blogging website owned by Google.

The government did not issue any reasons explaining the bans and this led to a public outcry, where bloggers accused the government of impeding their freedom of speech. Many filed petitions under the freedom of information law that extends citizens the right to access information held by the government.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_India